Cutting process overview

There are three general categories of industrial cutting: thermal, erosive, and mechanical.

Thermal

A thermal process uses heat to cut or melt through the material being cut. Examples include oxyfuel, plasma, and laser cutting.

Here’s how each works:

Oxyfuel creates a chemical reaction between the oxygen and steel that is so hot (about 1,800°F) the metal softens, and then melts
Plasma uses a high temperature ionized gas to produce a very hot, high energy-density arc that can cut any conductive material
Laser focuses a high-power beam of focused light, which heats and melts the material, while gas blows away the melted waste

Erosive

An erosive process uses air, water, or other natural agents to wear away a material. Waterjet cutting falls into this category.

Waterjet cutting generates a high-pressure volume of water that travels through a very small orifice to create a high-velocity stream of water. In water-only applications, this high-velocity stream of water erodes the material being cut. In abrasive waterjet cutting, the high-velocity stream of water accelerates an abrasive (typically garnet) that is mixed in after the orifice; this accelerated water-abrasive mixture erodes the material being cut. Abrasive waterjet cutting is required for harder materials such as metal and stone.

Mechanical

This process involves the use of physical forces to cut an object. Examples of this type of cutting include sawing, shearing, and drilling.

• Mechanical tools work by placing the cutting mechanism, such as a blade, into physical contact with the object being cut.