What is a plasma cutting arc? How does it differ from laser cutting? Changzhou Maiqiwei CNC Technology Co., Ltd. will introduce the characteristics of a plasma cutting arc. A plasma cutting machine, also known as a plasma power supply, is a machine that uses plasma cutting technology to process metal materials.

Plasma cutting utilizes the heat of a high-temperature plasma arc to partially melt (and evaporate) the metal at the workpiece's cut edge. The momentum of the high-speed plasma then removes the molten metal, forming a cut. Plasma cutting machines, when used with different working gases, can cut various metals that are difficult to cut with oxygen cutting, especially non-ferrous metals (stainless steel, aluminum, copper, titanium, nickel). Its main advantages are high cutting speed, especially when cutting thin sheets of ordinary carbon steel, where the speed can be 5-6 times that of oxygen cutting, resulting in a smooth cut surface, minimal thermal deformation, and almost no heat-affected zone.

As plasma cutting machines have evolved, the working gas (which is the conductive medium of the plasma arc, the heat carrier, and also removes molten metal from the cut) has a significant impact on the cutting characteristics, quality, and speed of the plasma arc.