What Does
Arc Wire Spraying Mean?
Wire arc spraying involves two consumable metal wires. When fed into the spray gun, these wires are electrically/thermally heated to their melting points and then sprayed onto a metallic surface.
This method of coating is especially suitable for providing corrosion protection to materials with low melting points.
Corrosionpedia Explains Arc Wire Spraying
The wire arc spraying process uses two metallic wires, generally of the same composition as the coating feedstock. While these two wires are usually the same, two wires of different compositions can also be used. These two wires are electrically charged with opposing polarity and fed into the arc gun simultaneously at a constant rate of speed. When the two wires make contact, the opposing electrical charges on the wires create enough heat to melt the tips of the wires, creating a liquid. Compressed air (or sometimes nitrogen) is used to atomize the molten material and accelerate it onto the specimen surface to form the coating layer.
These process parameters can be easily adjusted to create various surface profiles. Rough surfaces are created when coating parameters are adjusted to coarse atomization.
Advantages of wire arc spraying include:
- Lower operating costs
- Higher material output per hour
- Production of a more coarse coating
- Ease of adjusting parameters
- Can coat a variety of materials