WCA May 2013

news

Second generation ❍ Plasma annealer for high speed annealing of fine SS wire. Such an annealer can be used as a stand-alone annealing plant in a combination with a take up and pay-off or is installed in-line with a drawing machine or rolling mill

surface cleaning and surface oxide removal, which has proved to be particularly beneficial to applications with demanding surface requirements in sectors such as medical, welding or aerospace. Unlike the traditional tube furnace, the plasma annealer can cold start production in a few minutes and can be stopped immediately. This avoids the lengthy heating-up and cooling-down times and associated energy costs that are symptomatic for a conventional furnace. The gas cooling section in the plasma annealer has a closed loop design to minimise

of the plasma chamber and results in high-energy conversion efficiency. Annealing power is controlled instantaneously and with a high degree of accuracy via power supply. This gives the operator the ability to target mechanical properties with a great degree of accuracy and provides greater flexibility in new product development. Rapid heating and reduced time of recrystallisation results in fine grain size with uniform crystal structure in the longitudinal and transversal direction. This improves the material’s susceptibility to cold working and its resistance to surface cracking. Ion bombardment or ion sputtering on the material surface results in fine dry

PlASMAIT has introduced a second generation plasma annealer designed for wire, rope and tubes made of stainless steel and nickel alloys and with cross-sections from 20mm 2 down to the smallest fine wire sizes. This new concept allows for a radical increase of continuous annealing speeds of stainless steels and nickel alloys. In the fine wire sizes it is possible to conduct annealing of austenitic stainless steel wire at speeds over 15m/s. At such speeds annealing can be performed in-line with drawing or rolling, substituting multiple lines of a traditional tube furnace. Efficient energy coupling in the plasma process allows for a compact design

purging gas consumption. Plasmait GmbH – Austria Website : www.plasmait.com

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2013

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