Thermal Spray Wire
Greetings:
Thanks for taking the time to visit the blog, this one is on the topic of thermal spray wire.
The thermal spray process is used to apply molten materials to the surface of an another object in order to change the surface properties of that object. The source of material in the process is either wire or powder.
Wire is desirable for use in the thermal spray process because wire is generally more cost effective to manufacture than powder. This obviously is only true for materials that can be made into a wire.
The basic process for using wire in thermal spray is as follows:
1. Feed the wire into a melting source
2. Melt the wire
3. Atomize the molten metal
4. Apply it to the object being sprayed.
Feeding the wire into the source is accomplished by using air driven or electric driven motors. The wire is gripped with grooved rolls that have serrations in them. The wire is normally on an open coil or it is wound on a spool, either way, it must feed into the motors with no tangles and as little resistance to uncoiling as possible.
Melting of the wire is an integral part of the process and is accomplished in one of two ways:
1. Electric Arc
2. Combustion flame
Atomization is accomplished using a compressed gas, usually air. However, there are applications that will use other gases, such as argon when you want to limit the oxides.
Popular sizes for the wire is 1/8? or 1/16?, although there are several other sizes used.
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Bob
