Economics of Air Plasma Cutting-Myth and Reality

Air-plasma cutting is becoming popular and a practical alternative to oxy-cutting for cutting of mild steel in many fabrication industries. The main advantage lies in the fact that air-plasma cutting is much faster than oxy-cutting. It is therefore expected that it will reduce the cutting cost by accomplishing the cutting much faster. This is unfortunately, not necessarily true. This paper analyses the truth behind this and attempts to identify the conditions which will ensure maximum benefit from air-plasma cutting.