The advantages of plasma cutting machines lie in their more concentrated plasma arc energy, higher temperature, faster cutting speed, and less deformation. They can also cut materials such as stainless steel and aluminum.
The disadvantages of plasma cutting include strong arc light, high noise, and a lot of dust, causing some environmental pollution. For medium to thick materials, underwater plasma cutting is often used, and there are limitations on the cutting thickness. Similarly, gas flow rate, arc length, electrode quality, current magnitude, and cutting speed all affect the quality; poor control can lead to problems, making it less straightforward than flame cutting. It's also advisable to use only a few plasma cutting torches, as the high cutting speed makes them susceptible to inconsistencies caused by the aforementioned factors, resulting in inconsistent cutting quality. Generally, for thin plates, plasma cutting produces a better surface finish than flame cutting, with less slag buildup.
In recent years, foreign manufacturers have developed new technologies called fine plasma or high-precision plasma cutting, which have been introduced by some domestic manufacturers with good results. Improved cutting torque design significantly improves the quality of the workpiece cut surface, achieving a perpendicularity of 0-1.5°, which is particularly beneficial for improving the cutting quality of thick plates. Due to improvements in the cutting torch, electrode life has been increased several times. However, plasma cutting requires a relatively high distance between the cutting torch and the steel plate, necessitating a more sensitive height sensor on the torch and faster torch movement.
Therefore, plasma cutting of 4-30 mm steel plates is a more ideal method, avoiding the disadvantages of oxy-acetylene cutting such as slow speed, large deformation, severe melt-up of the cut, and significant slag buildup. This method also allows for the cutting of materials such as stainless steel of a certain thickness.