Neutral flame is what type of flame with a balance of oxygen and acetylene?

1 Answer
May 10, 2017

You should ask a welder for his input. And goddammit I am a chemist.

Explanation:

A neutral flame is neither oxidizing nor reducing; the stoichiometric proportion of reactant gases are fairly well balanced:

#H-C-=C-H(g) + 5/2O_2 rarr 2CO_2(g) + H_2O(g)#

So the oxygen bleed is greater to achieve stoichiometric proportion.

Again, this is a practical issue; the welder adjusts the oxygen and fuel valves so that the flame reaches a purpose-specific temperature under a reducing (tweak the acetylene valve) or oxidizing regime (tweak the oxygen cylinder).