About Plasma Arc Welding (PAW) and Cutting (PAC)
Plasma refers to a temporary physical state assumed by a gas after it has been exposed to, and reacted to an extremely high temperature. It becomes an ionized state of a gas, also known as the fourth state of matter.
What is Plasma Arc Welding (PAW)
A welding process in which an electronic arc ionizes a gas, generally argon (in some cases mixed gases are used; argon/helium argon/nitrogen) creating a super heated highly focused plasma arc column that generates the heat for welding. PAW is similar to TIG (GTAW) except that the arc is focused through a constricting tip orifice which provides a much stiffer arc, with deeper penetration and a narrower heat affected arczone.
Plasma Arc Welding is clean and quiet, producing beautiful, cosmetic welds suited for high-precision/automated welding applications of exotic or thin materials down to foil thickness.
Plasma arc welding is a precise process and the slightest adjustments can cause problems.
Applications
Bio-med, pharmaceutical, food service, brewery, power generation, aircraft, aerospace, automotive and special interest auto, marine, sporting equipment etc. Process can be manual, semi-automatic or robotic.
Plasma Arc Cutting (PAC)
A cutting process in which an electronic arc ionizes a gas, generally compressed air (in some cases, primarily in older type equipment, argon is used) creating a super heated highly focused plasma arc column that generates the heat for cutting any metal that conducts electricity, it uses a constricted arc to melt a small area of the workpiece with a fast flowing ionized plasma gas and can provide a high quality cuts on a variety of material thickneses with a narrow heat affected arczone.