Gas Cutting of 18-8 Stainless Clad Steel

Abstract

The authors studied the square and the bevel cutting of 18-8 stainless clad steel having a total thickness of 6 mm with 1 mm for the clad layer.
The results show:
1) Cutting can be done from the mild steel side by a little inclination of the nozzle, e. g. at the angle of 10-20 deg. to the vertical (See Fig. 1).
2) Compared with the cutting of non-clad mild steel of equivalent thickness,
i) a larger size of the nozzle is preferable;
ii) pressure of cutting oxygen must be increased to 150-200%;
iii) speed of cutting is around 80% of mild steel cutting.
3) A small amount of double carbide precipitation on the cut edge is unavoidable, although cooling water has been used during the cutting operation.
(C<0.08%, Cr 17-20% and Ni 7-10% constitute the clad metal)
4) Cutting to irregular curved figures is difficult.