For oxy-fuel cutting, an effective way of limiting and reducing the extent of the soft zone is to water-cool the plate and the cut surface during the cutting operation. This can be achieved either by submerging the plate in water or by spraying water on the piece during and after cutting. However, even with submersion or water spraying, a soft zone will still develop in the cutting edge within approximately 5-10 mm (0.197 – 0.394”). This occurs because any water is pushed away by the ignition flame and the cutting oxygen jet preventing the water from cooling the cutting front until after softening has occurred. Nevertheless, water cooling can prevent "global" softening of the component. 

Submerged cutting can be done with both plasma cutting and oxy-fuel cutting, offering several advantages such as:

• Prevents loss of hardness of the entire component
• Reduced distortion of the cut piece
• Pieces are cooled directly after cutting 
• No fumes or dust
• Reduced noise level

Submerged cutting

Since preheating is not applicable for submerged cutting, the only available measures to counteract the risk for hydrogen cracking are postheating and reduced cutting speed. When small pieces are cut from thick Hardox^® wear plate using oxy-fuel, there is risk of softening and cut edge cracking. This is best avoided through submerged cutting at low cutting speeds or by post-heat treatment of the cut pieces, which can be done with a torch or in a furnace.