Oxy-fuel welding and cutting
Oxy-fuel welding and
oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases and oxygen to weld and cut metals, respectively. French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-acetylene welding in 1903. Pure oxygen, instead of air, is used to increase the flame temperature to allow localized melting of the workpiece material in a room environment. A common propane/air flame burns at about 2,000 °C, a propane/oxygen flame burns at about 2,500 °C, and an acetylene/oxygen flame burns at about 3,500 °C. Oxy-fuel is one of the oldest welding processes, besides forge welding. Still used in industry, in recent decades it has been less widely utilized in industrial applications as other specifically devised technologies have been adopted. It is still widely used for welding pipes and tubes, as well as repair work. It is also frequently well-suited, and favored, for fabricating some types of metal-based artwork.