{"id":2376,"date":"2018-10-06T09:42:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T09:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:59:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:59:51","slug":"how-does-a-plasma-cutter-work-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/2018\/10\/how-does-a-plasma-cutter-work-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How does a plasma cutter work?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2376\" class=\"elementor elementor-2376\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-be62196 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"be62196\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d494347 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d494347\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Coming after solid, liquid and gas, plasma is the fourth state of matter. When gas is heated enough, the atoms split, separating the electrons from the nucleus.  Once the heat releases the electrons, they move quickly.  These electrons are negatively charged so as they move, they leave behind positively charged nuclei, known as ion.  When the ions and electrons collide, they release a whole load of energy and it is this energy that gives plasma its robust cutting power.\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fa5cb40 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fa5cb40\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Plasma cutters operate by sending pressurised gas (like nitrogen, argon or oxygen) through a tiny channel with a negatively charged electrode in the centre of it.\u00a0 When power is applied to this negative electrode and the nozzle touches the metal, a circuit is created and a spark is generated between the electrode and the metal.\u00a0 This spark heats the inert gas to the point where it turns into plasma and it releases a direct stream.\u00a0 This plasma stream is approximately 16649 degrees Celsius, and moves at a speed of 20,000 feet per second.\u00a0 When it comes into contact with metal, the plasma reduces it to molten slag.<\/p>\n<p>For as long as the power is supplied to the electrode and the plasma stays in contact with the metal, this plasma arc will be continuous.\u00a0 To maintain this connection, the nozzle releases a constant flow of shielding gas around the cutting area and the radius of the plasma beam will be dependent on the pressure of this gas shield.<\/p>\n<p>Our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/swift-cut-pro-plasma-cutting-machine\/\">Swift-Cut CNC plasma cutting machines<\/a>\u00a0cut a range of metals (including steel) into any shape with a very high degree of accuracy and with a smooth edge.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Swift-Cut machines require the very best consumables. Hypertherm is a multinational corporation at the top of its game.  It was a no-brainer to join forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[18,25,31,82,16,23,38,55],"class_list":["post-2376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information","tag-cnc-plasma-cutting-table","tag-metal-cutting","tag-metal-fabrication","tag-swift-cut-information","tag-swift-cut-news","tag-swift-cut-pro-plasma-table","tag-swift-cut-xp-cnc-plasma-table","tag-swift-jet-pro-waterjet-cutting-table"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2376"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions\/2380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugarmarketing.co.uk\/EL26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}