Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called
oxyacetylene welding,
oxy welding, or
gas welding in the U.S.) and
oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases and oxygen to
weld and cut metals, respectively. French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-
acetylene welding in 1903. Pure oxygen, instead of
air, is used to increase the
flame temperature to allow localized melting of the workpiece material (e.g. steel) in a room environment. A common propane/air flame burns at about , a propane/oxygen flame burns at about , and an acetylene/oxygen flame burns at about .