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Iron Powder
For Surface Coating
Thermal surfacing - an opportunity
to achieve the desired performance characteristics on exposed metal surfaces.
Our high-quality thermal surfacing powders are based on nickel, cobalt or iron.
They offer a proven, cost-effective method to improve both the performance and
endurance of components in high-wear and corrosive environment. Examples include
engine valves, printing rollers, glass bottle moulds and steel rollers.
Our powders are particularly suited to the needs of high-tech surface coating
methods such as Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA), surfacing, laser cladding,
High-Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF), plasma or flame spraying and powder welding.
Iron powders are applied in a wide range of
thermal surfacing techniques such as:
Powder welding is typically used for coating in
moulds, neck rings and plates for the glass-bottle-making industry.
Flame spraying efficiently applies a
high-hardness surface on bottle neck plungers.
Plasma and HVOF (High–Velocity Oxy-Fuel)
spraying keeps cutter blades sharp in the paper industry.
PTA Surfacing (Plasma Transferred Arc) is a
surfacing method that reduces wear and corrosion on valve seats and ball valves.
It is also used in the chemical industry to increase corrosion resistance and
reduce mechanical wear.
Laser cladding is used for renovating critical
industrial components such as shafts, bearings and sealing surfaces. Laser
cladding creates coatings, while having a minor thermal effect on the
basematerial.
Product Examples
The various atomization processes produce
powders that must pass stringent controls at each stage in the value-added
process.
Powders are fractioned according to customer
specifications and can be supplied as is, or further refined, in order to
achieve a specific chemical composition and particle size distribution. Our
metal powder developments aim to actively stimulate growth in the thermal
surfacing industry.
The vast range of powders for thermal
surfacing, with hardness ranges from 200- 1000 HV, includes nickel-based,
self-fluxing products (NiCrBSi), super alloys (625, 276), bonding materials
80Ni/20Cr, Ni5Al, cobalt-based types 6, 1, 12, F and iron-based powders such as
316L and 410L.
Manufacturing
There are a number of surfacing methods used in
the industry. Below are few examples.
Powder welding gives a smooth, dense coating,
which can often be used with little or no further machining. The torches are
simple to use – only the flame requires adjustment.
Flame spraying is a two-step process (spraying followed by fusing) that results
in a dense coating and a metallurgical bond. The process can employ
high-hardness alloys including mixtures containing tungsten carbide. The
technique is easy to automate and can be adapted for the spraying of cylindrical
parts.
HVOF is the surfacing method of choice when
extremely high-density coatings are required. The process is easily automated
and very little subsequent machining is required.
Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) surfacing is ideal for high unit volume automated
applications, such as thermal surfacing of exhaust valves. Low base metal
dilution and a wide range of consumables are just two of several advantages that
can be gained from using the technique.
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