Cored Wires

In the right applications, metal-cored wire is among the solutions that can provide productivity and time-saving benefits. There are some key steps that can help determine if metal-cored wire is the right choice.

Behind the technology
As with any type of filler metal, metal-cored wire has its own specific characteristics, benefits, limitations and best-suited applications. Because metal-cored wire is a hollow metal sheath filled with metallic powders, alloys and arc stabilizers, it can create distinct results. These include lowering oxidation, providing higher impact strengths and reducing silicon depositions. These characteristics also make metal-cored wire especially suitable for welding through mill scale.

When welding with metal-cored wire, the spray transfer process is used. This process creates tiny filler metal droplets that deposit in the weld puddle and generate little to no spatter. Because the current travels through the outside metal sheath, the wire produces a broad, cone-shaped arc. This results in a wider penetration profile compared to the more finger-like penetration of solid wire. This arc shape also creates a wide, consistent bead profile that bridges gaps easily and accurately without burn-through.

The construction of metal-cored wire also allows for greater travel speeds and deposition rates, and helps minimize porosity and undercut in the final weld. All of these factors can increase productivity and allow welding operators to weld more efficiently, deposit more weld metal, reduce quality issues and spend less time cleaning the weld.

Metal-cored wire is suitable for flat, horizontal, in some cases vertical down welding using a standard constant voltage power source. Vertical up welding is also possible with a power source that provides pulsing capabilities, though it will generally be slower using metal-cored wire compared to flux-cored wire. Metal-cored wire is capable of single or multi-pass welding, and requires high argon shielding gas mixtures (a minimum of 75 percent).

Industries such as heavy & mining equipment manufacturing, trailer fabrication, beam & lintel manufacturing, automotive exhaust, chassis and wheel manufacturing, and food and petrochemical fabrication all have welding applications in which metal-cored wire excels. This is due partly to the fact that the wires can be alloyed for most types of steel, from mild and stainless to low alloy. Many of these industries also frequently weld 6mm and thicker material, another application where metal-cored wire offers solid productivity solutions, specifically due to its gap-bridging capabilities.

One consideration to keep in mind is that metal-cored wire, on average, costs more per pound than other types of filler metals. However, it can boost productivity that offset the initial cost.

What are the benefits?
While metal-cored wire typically has faster travel speeds and higher deposition rates than other types of wire (especially solid wire), the technology can offer its greatest productivity benefits in the pre- and post-weld phases. In some welding operations, using metal-cored wire eliminates certain pre and post-weld activities such as grinding, sand blasting, applying anti spatter and re-work. This allows the time spent on those tasks to be allocated elsewhere, in ways that can improve the overall productivity of the operation.

Since metal-cored wire tends to create little to no spatter and minimizes defects such as undercutting or lack of fusion, post-weld activities such as grinding or chipping spatter usually aren't necessary, which saves labour time and money. Additionally, reducing the necessary post-weld activity helps increase the flow of completed parts to other stages of production, such as painting or coating, to improve overall productivity.

Carbon cored wire is an innovative product designed to meet the specific needs of modern industrial applications. The product is produced using advanced technology and high-quality materials, making it ideal for use in the most demanding environments.

Carbon powder coated core wire is a linear composite alloy material made of strip steel wrapped carbon powder. Mainly used for refining and element fine tuning outside the steel furnace.

The carbon core wire is mainly used outside the furnace (ladle or hot metal ladle, in front of the furnace, holding furnace, tundish, crystallizer, medium cast pipe and large iron mold) to deoxidize, desulfurize, Microalloy, fine tune the composition, modify the inclusions, and spheroidize and inoculate the molten steel or hot metal.

Features and usage:
* Carbon cored wire for medium and low carbon steel ladle feed line carburizing.
* The carbon cored wire can feed the carbon cored wire directly into the steel, which avoids the mixing of carbon powder with steel slag and makes the carbonization unstable.
* The use of carbon cored wire for carburizing ladle can ensure the stability of carburizing and keep the carbon content within the range of 0.019%.
* The reduction of oxidation property of molten steel can effectively improve the yield of carburizer, and the uniformity of end point component can guarantee the various components of molten steel after the steel is accurately adjusted.