| The thermal lance cutting process represents the oldest commercial use of oxygen cutting or piercing of massive objects (metallic materials and concrete). The application in the civilian sector includes mining, heavy construction, plant maintenance, demolition, utilities, quarries, metal producing and casting, marine operations, metallurgy, and civil engineering. Additional governmental industry involvement includes police, fire/rescue, shipboard damage control/rescue, and antiterrorist activity. There is increasing effort to develop tools for fast release of victims in major disasters (earthquake, railway collisions, highway disasters, etc.).; The goal of this research work is to understand the lance combustion process and the cutting processes, and further more, to develop fast highly portable cutters, which can be used in rescue missions. The combustion process of metals with oxygen is discussed. Theories of lance burning and lance cutting processes are investigated. Based on the theory investigations, modifications of thermal lance cutting technology are provided. The experiment results of the modified lances are presented and discussed. The thermal lance that we modified for steel plate cutting process allows increasing the potential of steel plate cutting by factor two compared to the state-of-the-art in the industry. The thermal lance that we modified for concrete piercing process allows increasing the potential of concrete piercing by factor two compared to the state-of-the-art in the industry. |
