Surface Coating

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.