I didn't do it! But one of my rocket scientist co-workers tried to flame cut a stainless pipe. Kept at it for a good twenty minutes, managed to melt enough of it to pull it apart. Then threw it out and got another that wasn't all warped and blobbed to hell. Anyhoo, I discovered it because it smelled horrible. Is there some known reaction between stainless and acetylene that produces a rancid funk? Toxic? The one guy with the most exposure already has brain damage, so we aren't too worried if it is.
Torch cutting stainless--stinky?
May 13, 2006
2 Replies
B.B.:
The smell may have been caused by residue from previous use of the pipe. You didn't say the pipe was unused.
The reason you can't PROPERLY cut/burn stainless steel with an oxy-fuel torch is because of the chromium content of the steel.
At elevated temperatures chromium combines with the free cutting oxygen very rapidly to form chromium-oxide, a ceramic that is extremely heat resistant and is used to make high-temperature fire bricks.
This oxide layer thus formed protects the iron against combining with the cutting oxygen.
You can get special oxy-fuel cutting torches for stainless steel. These torches have a provision whereby iron powder is injected into the flame to produce much higher temperatures to break-down the chromium-oxide formation.
It is still a very crude process producing results that look like rats had chewed on it.
Industrially stainless steel is cut using plasma torches which produce temperatures around 25,000 deg. F., as opposed to oxy-acetylene flames which burn at about 6,000 deg. F.
Wolfgang
Holding a 6013 rod in front of the flame will ade in cutting stainless...
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