Acetylene

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BOC can supply dissolved acetylene in any quantity you require in over 30 countries.

We also supply all the equipment needed for safe oxy-acetylene use, including hoses, regulators, mixers and flash back arrestors.

Supply

Supplied as Dissolved Acetylene (DA) – dissolved in acetone under pressure in a range of specialised cylinders to ensure stability and to avoid detonation.

Call Us or Email Us for advice on the most cost effective cylinder size and for a quotation.

Processes that use acetylene

When burned with oxygen, acetylene produces the hottest flame of all the fuel gases (3200°C). Acetylene’s high level of reactivity makes it a very useful fuel gas for:

• Welding – oxy-acetylene welding is a cost-effective alternative to electric welding, and a good alternative for remote locations that lack a reliable electrical supply. Acetylene is the only fuel gas that creates a flame hot enough to weld steel.
• Cutting – oxy-acetylene cutting offers better cut quality, higher cutting speed, faster cut initiation times and reduced oxygen use compared to other fuel gases.
• Heat treatment – oxy-acetylene is used for flame hardening of steel in-situ or for large components that do not fit in a furnace.
• Coating – oxy-acetylene used for flame spraying with wires or powder onto metals and ceramics, and non-stick mould coatings in metal casting.

Industries that use acetylene

Due to its high flame temperature and highly localised heating acetylene is used in:

• General Fabrication and Shipbuilding – for gas welding, brazing and soldering of a wide range of materials. It is also used with oxygen for flame gouging, flame heating, spraying, hardening, texturing and cleaning. Acetylene is the premium fuel gas, providing high productivity, low oxygen consumption and safe use within confined spaces.
• Laboratories and Research - for optical spectrometry as an instrumentation gas; in atomic absorption for elemental analysis as an instrumentation and fuel gas.

Acetylene’s ability to generate carbon black when incompletely combusted in air is used in mould release and other anti-stick applications in industries such as:

• Glass – for the lubrication of bottle production moulds.
• Iron and Steel and Non-ferrous metals - to prevent metal castings from sticking to their moulds and for aluminium extrusion press rams.

Acetylene’s use in welding and cutting applications as well as for heat treatment and coating, makes it a very useful gas across a wide range of industries [see the full list of industries that we serve].

Safety Information

• Acetylene is an unstable gas that can suddenly decompose in the form of a deflagration or detonation. Therefore large volumes should not be stored in piping systems and vessels and care must be taken to prevent ignition sources, including accidental heating of pipes and electrostatic sparks.
• Acetylene forms unstable and potentially explosive compounds with copper and silver and these materials should be excluded from acetylene piping systems. These piping systems need to be designed by specialists in that field.
• Due to its instability, acetylene needs to be stored dissolved in acetone that is soaked in a mineral matrix material and compressed in special steel cylinders.
• Flash-back or burn-back in acetylene hoses is a common hazard due to acetylene’s decomposition initiated by high temperatures at the welding or cutting torch head. Specialist hoses and regulators must be used.

Technical Information