Course Name/Title:

Welding Technology

Course Code: MTec2040a

Credit hours:3 Cr.Hrs /5 ECTS

By: Fiseha Sintayehu

 Chapter-six
6. Oxy-Acetylene Welding (OAW)
2.1 OAW welding process
Gas welding is one of the oldest methods of
welding and, for many years, was the most
widely used method of metal-melting. It is
suitable for repair and erection/production work,
for welding pipes/tubes and structures with a
wall thickness of 0.5 to 6mm in materials
particularly may lead to cracking, such as cast
iron and non-ferrous metals.
 Introduction to Oxy-Acetylene Welding

 Oxy-Acetylene is one of the oldest welding

processes, though in recent years, it has become
less popular in industrial applications. However,
it is still widely used for a variety of
applications. Oxy-fuel equipment is versatile,
lending itself to welding, brazing, braze-welding,
silver soldering, and metal heating (for bending
and forming) and cutting. Actually the
oxyacetylene process can be used for joining,
heating and cutting metals.
Cont,,,
 Joining or fusion welding is an important
application of the oxyacetylene process: the
edges of two pieces of metal are heated up to
their melting points and fused together.
 Heating with the oxyacetylene process is often
done for forming metals into various shapes
and for other heat-treating operations such as
annealing, flame hardening, tempering, etc.
Cont,,,
 The process of oxyacetylene welding is
possible because when acetylene is mixed with
oxygen in correct proportions and ignited, the
resulting flame is one of the hottest known.
 This flame, which reaches a temperature of
5700°F to 6300°F (3150°C to 3482°C), melts
all commercial metals to form a complete bond
without application of any mechanical pressure
or hammering.
 With the oxyacetylene flame, such metals as iron, steel, cast
iron, copper, brass, aluminum, bronze, and other alloys may
be welded. In many instances dissimilar metals can be
joined, such as steel and cast iron, brass and steel, copper
and iron, brass and cast iron.
 Oxy- Acetylene welding is very suitable for welding pipes
and tubes;
 it is both effective and economic for the following reasons:
 The ability to even out the temperature in the weld at low temperatures.
Slow heating and cooling can avoid the risk of hardening.
 Metal thicknesses up to about 6 mm can be welded.
 Speed, as only one pass is needed. Filler wires can be changed without
having to pause for grinding.
Cont,,,
 Good control of melting, as the welder can see at all times
that he has the desired pear shaped opening in the bottom
of the melt pool.
 Root defects are avoided by taking care to ensure good
burn-through.
 The equipment is easy to transport and requires no
electricity supply.
 The size of the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) can be reduced
by surrounding the weld area with damp (fire proof)
material.
 It is possible to use the light from the flame to locate the
joint before welding starts.
Oxy-Acetylene Welding Safety

 Safety precaution
 Never allow acetylene & oxygen cylinders to come in
contact with electrical wires or other electrical
equipment.
 Keep cylinders away from welding and cutting work or
from heat sources and other fuels.
 Never use acetylene & oxygen around oil or grease.
 Never use the acetylene cylinder in any other position
than vertical and handle it with special care.
 Use goggles to protect the eyes from the flame.
Oxy-Acetylene Welding Equipment
1. Oxygen cylinder: they are designed to support a work
pressure up to 150 atmospheres and are tested up to a resistance
of 225 atmospheres, their common colors are blue and green,
have written the word oxygen in its surface. The oxygen from a
cylinder of oxygen can be used up to pressure of 0.5 or 1
atmosphere(bar).
 The cylinders are equipped with a high-pressure valve, which
can be opened by turning the hand wheel on top of the cylinder.
 This valve should always be opened by hand and not with a
wrench.
 The hand wheel must be turned slowly to permit a gradual
pressure load on the regulator, and then opened as far as the
valve will turn, to full gas pressure.
2. Acetylene cylinders: they are designed to support
pressures about 20 to 25 atmospheres but the normal
pressure into it is 16 atmospheres, their common colors are
white and black, normally their size are smaller than the
oxygen cylinder. It is strongly recommended stop the work
after the pressure of cylinder is around 1 or 1.5 atmospheres.
 The cylinder valve is operated by means of a wrench. This
valve should never be opened more than one and one-half
turns.
 A slight opening is ad­visable since it permits closing the
valve in a hurry in case of an emergency.
 Cont,,,
3. Regulators: the oxygen and acetylene pressure
regulators per­form two functions. They reduce the cylinder
pres­sure to the required working pressure and produce a
steady flow of gas under varying cylinder pressures.
 To illustrate, assume that the oxygen in the cylinder is
under a pressure of 1800 psi and a pressure of 6 pounds is
needed at the torch.
 The regulator must maintain a constant pressure of 6
pounds even if the cylinder pressure drops to 500 pounds.
 There are two types of regulators, the two-stage and the
single-stage.
Figure 3.1. Double Stage Regulator
The acetylene gauge usually is marked with a warning color above 15 psi on the working
pressure gauge.
The oxygen-working pressure gauge is graduated in divisions between 0 to 60 pounds and the
working pressure gauge on the acetylene regulator in divisions of 0 to 30 pounds.

Figure 3.2. The oxygen and acetylene regulators

 Here are a few more rules that should be followed:
 Always check the adjusting screw before the cylinder valve is turned
on, and release this screw when the welding has been completed.
 Never use oil on a regulator. Use only soap or glycerin to lubricate
the adjusting screw.
 Do not try to interchange the oxygen and acet­ylene regulators.
 If a regulator does not function properly, shut off the supply of gas
and have a qualified repairman check it.
 If a regulator creeps (does not remain at set pressure), have it
repaired immediately.
 If the gauge pointer fails to go back to the pin when the pressure is
released, this condition should be repaired.
 Always keep a tight connection between the regulator and the
cylinder.
4. Hoses: they are always two hoses, one for oxygen and
another for acetylene. In each end of the hose is attached to
the regulators and the torch handle.
 All hoses are colored, green for oxygen and red for
acetylene.
 The length of the hoses should be around 5 meter to
permit free movement of the operator.
Figure 3.3. Connections of hoses and regulators to the cylinders
5. Torches: they are finally the attachments that produce the
flame for working has different types of tips used according to
the thickness of metal to be welded or cut.
 The torch or blowpipe is a tool which mixes acetylene and
oxygen in the correct proportions and permits the mixture to
flow to the end of a tip where it is burned.
 Although torches vary to some extent in design, basically they
are all made to provide complete control of the flame during
the welding operation.
Figure 3.4.Oxyacetylene torch
Cont,,,
 The two main types of torches are the injector and the
medium (equal) pressure.
 The injector torch is designed to use acetylene at very low
pressures, from 1 psi to zero.
 The equal pressure type requires acetylene pressures of 1
to 15 psi.

the injector (a) equal pressure (b).

With the injector blowpipe,
6. Welding Tips: used for welding different thick­nesses
of metal, torches are equipped with an as­sortment of
different size heads, or tips, as shown in Figure 3.6. The size
of the tip is governed by the diameter of its opening which is
marked on the tip.

Figure 3.6. The different types of tips

 Frequent use of the torch will cause a formation of carbon
in the passage of the tip. Remove this carbon by inserting
a tip cleaner straight in and pull­ing it straight out.
Brushing the end of the tip with a fine grade of sandpaper
is also ad­visable at times.

Figure3.7. Welding tip orifice cleaner

7. Spark lighter: the safe way to light blowpipe is by using
a spark lighter. This can conveniently be operated by one
hand while the other handhold the blow pipe.
The spark lighter, sometimes called a striker, is the tool
used for igniting the torch. See Figure 3.8.

Figure 3.8 Spark lighter

 Types of Flames
Flames Types: the first flame that appears will be yellow to
orange in color and black smoke will be present at the end
of it. This flame is called the acetylene flame, and it does not
contain any pure oxygen.

Figure 3.11. Acetylene flame

1. Carburizing flame:
 as soon as pure oxygen is added to the acetylene flame,
changes begin to happen.
 First, the black smoke totally disappears and the flame
changes from a yellow/ orange to a whitish/white color.
 The flame produced when the oxygen is first introduced is
called the carburizing flame. This flame is used to weld
soft meal example aluminum.

Figure 3.12. Carburizing flame

2. Neutral flame:
 as you add more oxygen to flame, the flame will change
again the excess of oxygen will be appear towards of the
tip and finally is coming out one cone at the base of the
tip,
 this type of flame has approximately the same quantity of
oxygen and acetylene. This is used for welding normal
carbon steel.

Figure 3.13. Neutral flame

3. Oxidizing flame:
 if the oxygen is opened more, the natural of the neutral
flame will change again; this flame is called oxidizing
flame, that one has approximately more oxygen than
acetylene.
 This is used for welding brass and to cut sheets metal from
carbon steel.

Figure 3.14. Oxidizing flame

 A well balanced neutral flame is used for welding most steels.
 Avoid excessive gas pressure because it gives a harsh flame.
This often results in cold shuts or laps, and makes molten
metal control difficult.
 The tip size and volume of flame used should be sufficient to
reduce the metal to a fully molten state and to produce
complete joint penetration.
 The inner cone tip of the flame should not be permitted to
come in contact with the welding rod, molten puddle, or base
metal.
 The rod should not be melted above the puddle and allowed
to drip into it.
Weld materials to standard in all
positions
 Two different methods of welding are used when gas welding:
forehand and backhand.
 Forehand Welding: in forehand welding, the flame is pointed
away from the completed weld in the direction of welding.
 Thin sheet metal (less than 3 mm) is normally carried out using
forehand welding.
 This method is generally used for non-ferrous metals, although
thicker materials can also be backhand welded.

Figure 3.16. Forehand welding (left) and backhand welding (right).

Backhand Welding: in backhand welding, the flame is
pointed toward the completed weld.
 Steel over 3 mm thick should be backhand welded, as the
size of the melt pool is so large, when welding thick
materials, that the gases and slag cannot escape from the
pool without assistance.
 Backhand welding is faster than forehand welding, and so
the work piece is subjected to high temperature for a
shorter time.
Welding Rods:
 filler metal for oxyacetylene welding of low-carbon steel is
available in the form of cold-drawn steel rods 915 mm long and
1.6 to 4.0 mm in diameter.
 Welding rods for oxyacetylene welding of other metals are
supplied in various lengths, depending on whether they are
wrought or cast.
 Rods for oxyacetylene welding of steel have no flux covering.
 In the absence of flux coverings, weld-metal properties depend
on chemical composition of the welding rod, control of the
welding atmosphere, and techniques used to provide for mixing
of base metal and filler metal. The ability to control the
properties of the weld by mixing base metal and filler metal in
the weld pool means that the choice of welding rod can influence
weld strength to a considerable extent.
 Oxy-AcetyleneCutting
 Oxyacetylene gas cutting includes a group of cutting processes
that use controlled chemical reactions to remove preheated
metal by rapid oxidation in a stream of pure oxygen.
 A fuel gas flame heats the work piece to ignition temperature,
and a stream of pure oxygen feeds the cutting (oxidizing) action.
 The oxyacetylene gas cutting process, which is also referred to
as burning or flame cutting,
 can cut carbon and low-alloy plate of virtually any thickness.
 With oxidation-resistant materials, such as stainless steels, either
a chemical flux or metal powder is added to the oxygen stream
to promote the exothermic reaction.
The simplest gas cutting equipment consists of
 two cylinders (one for oxygen and one for the acetylene
gas),
 gas flow regulators and gauges,
 gas supply hoses, and
 a cutting torch with a set of exchangeable cutting tips.
Such manually operated equipment is portable and
inexpensive.
Principles of Operation:
 oxyacetylene gas cutting begins by heating a small area on the
surface of the metal to the ignition temperature of 760 to 870
°C(1400 to 1600 °F).
 Upon reaching this temperature, the surface of the metal will
appear bright red.
 A cutting oxygen stream is then directed at the preheated spot,
causing rapid oxidation of the heated metal and generating large
amounts of heat. This heat supports continued oxidation of the
metal as the cut progresses.
 Combusted gas and the pressurized oxygen jet flush the molten
oxide away, exposing fresh surfaces for cutting.
 The metal in the path of the oxygen jet burns.
 The cut, progresses making a narrow slot or kerf through the metal.
 To start a cut at the edge of a plate, the edge of the preheat
flame is placed just over the edge to heat the material.
 When the plate heats to red, the cutting oxygen is turned
on, and the torch moves over the plate to start the cut.
 During cutting, oxygen and fuel gas flow through separate
lines to the cutting torch at pressures controlled by
pressure regulators, adjusted by the operator.
 The cutting torch contains ducts, a mixing chamber, and valves
to supply an oxyacetylene gas mixture of the proper ratio for
preheat and a pure oxygen stream for cutting to the torch tip.
By adjusting the control valves on the torch handle the operator
sets the precise oxyacetylene gas mixture desired.
Figure 3.20. Cutting different types of contour by oxyacetylene
 Gas cutting is available to cut plates mostly
greater than 40 mm thickness that is difficult to
metal shears.
 The cutting operation is performed at rapid
oxidized flame with highly pressured oxygen jet.
 The oxy-acetylene gas cutting out fit is similar to
that of the oxy-acetylene welding except for the
torch type.