Factors for Thermal spray wire material selection

Wire is a recommended feed material for diverse coating operations because of lower material cost and easy handling. The wire operations are usually featured by high deposition rates and great efficiency. The common applications for thermal spray wire is the combustion wire process and wire arc spray process which uses total pounds of wire per year when compared to combustion wire.

The applications include the coating materials that can be developed into a malleable wire.

The wire production process is what limits what materials you can develop in thermal spray wire. The basic process includes forging or hot rolling to a moderate size. The eventual processing needs cold drawing uses hardened dies that also includes heat processing procedures to avoid cold process from the drawing process. In case of extremely hard or brittle material for cold drawing, it may not as thermal spray wire.

Wires are classified as base material, the metal that is predominant in wire. The wires for electric arc and combustion spray includes aluminium, cobalt, copper, iron, molybdenum, nickel, zinc and tin. Titanium wire is used for electric-arc spray however not combustion arc spraying as titanium has a higher melting temperature that is available with combustion spray. Lead wire is recommended for combustion spray however not electric-arc spray due to low electric conductivity of lead.

A key factor is the wire size. In various industries, wire sizes are usually expressed as gauge. Although, there are several conflicting definitions of gauge, wire gauge, US standard for stainless steel. AWG is utilized for non-ferrous wire and SWG is utilized for ferrous wire. As it is important to have a close match between the thermal spray gun set-up and the wire size, it is preferred that wire size is specified in mm instead in gauge.

Wire feed for spray systems

Wire feed is crucial for any wire based thermal spray operation. A single wire feed is preferred for flame spray systems while twin wires are specifically utilized for electric arc spray systems. The generic wire produced for other industries can cause major grief. Standard industrial wire may have surface scaling that result to wire feed jams, extensive wear of feed components and result to inclusions in the final coating. Additionally, other industries may not be related with offering wire rolls free of kinks, weld joints or other characteristics that could lead to feed issues. Many wires have lubrication added to the surface during the even spooling process. The level winding process is used during the spooling process that is a method of wire coiling on the spool so it is wound single level layer.

In establishing the wire feed system, sufficient space is required to permit for free wire feeding without binding. It is particularly essential for wire guns that utilize a pull drive only. The wire-straightener system in the feed is also advantageous for smooth and trouble-free thermal spray operation. When wire is wound, it releases the spool without getting tangled.

Moreover to solid wire, there is certainly hollow wire filled with powder. These are recommended as cored wires in that they have a hollow core filled with powder. These are preferred as cored wires in that they have a hollow core filled with powder.