Oxy-Acetylene welding

 Combustion of acetylene with oxygen produces a flame of over 3,600 K (3,330 °C;
6,020 °F), releasing 11.8 kJ/g.
 Oxyacetylene is the hottest burning common fuel gas. Acetylene is the third-hottest
natural chemical flame after dicyanoacetylene's 5,260 K (4,990 °C; 9,010 °F)
and cyanogen at 4,798 K (4,525 °C; 8,177 °F).
 acetylene decomposes explosively into hydrogen and carbon
 Oxygen is not the fuel. It is what chemically combines with the fuel to produce the
heat for welding called “OXIDATION”.
 In oxy-fuel cutting, oxidation of the metal being cut (typically iron) produces nearly all of
the heat required to "burn" through the work piece.
 Oxygen is usually produced by distillation of liquefied air and shipped in high-pressure
vessels (Black colour) at a pressure of about 21,000 kPa (210 Bar)
 This type of welding is suitable for the prefabrication of steel sheet, tubes and plates.
Also be used for brazing, bronze welding, forging / shaping metal and cutting.
 Turn off the oxygen first, followed by the acetylene
 Types of Flame
o carbonizing (aka reducing), neutral, or oxidizing
o Adjustment is made by adding more or less oxygen to the acetylene flame
 Carbonizing
o By excess of Acetylene. 3 flame zones - hot inner cone, a white-hot "acetylene
feather", and the blue-colored outer cone
o Unburned carbon insulates the flame and drops temperature. Incomplete
combustion of the acetylene to cause an excess of carbon in the flame and
dissolved by molten metal to carbonize it.
o The carbonizing flame will tend to remove the oxygen from iron oxides which may
be present, a fact which has caused the flame to be known as a "reducing flame"
 oxidizing flame
o It occurs with excess of oxygen. This flame is hotter than the other two flames
because the combustible gases will not have to search for oxygen.
o Oxidizing flame because of its effect on metal.
o Generally not preferred. Oxidizing flame creates undesirable oxides to the
structural and mechanical detriment of most metals.

Arc welding
 Join metal to metal by using electricity to create enough heat to melt metal, and the
melted metals when cool result in a binding of the metals.
 They can use either direct (DC) or alternating (AC) current, and consumable or non-
consumable electrodes.
 In arc welding, the voltage is directly related to the length of the arc, and the current is
related to the amount of heat input.
 Constant current power supplies -> for manual welding process such as TIG, MAW.
This is important because in manual welding, it can be difficult to hold the electrode
perfectly steady, and as a result, the arc length and thus voltage tend to fluctuate.
 Constant voltage power supplies -> for automated welding processes such as MIG, flux
cored arc welding, and submerged arc welding. Arc is kept constant
 A
 A
Current AC vs DC
 DC+ polarity produces a good bead profile with a higher level of penetration.
 DC- polarity results in less penetration and a higher electrode melt-off rate. Eg: It is
used on thin sheet metal in an attempt to prevent burn-through.
