Wedge wire is popularly used in the manufacturing of screens. It is also known as a profile bar and is classified as a category of screen wire. Wedge wire has a triangular shape and is available in various ranges in radius, width, and height, on both corners and nose.
It may appear that wedge wire is a straightforward product, but it takes extreme attention and care while designing the specification for it. Also, the end-user need to make an appropriate selection to design a screen that is suitable for the application. Also check wire manufacturer
Alloy and Material Used for Wedge Wire
The alloy and material used for wedge wire depend on the kind of application and hence the alloy and material may vary. Considering application in the market of oil and gas –
it may demand different materials and in the market of filtering fluid such as beverage and food industry may demand another type of alloy. The selection of an alloy also depends on the process of manufacturing it and upon the elements that are additionally added to the wire before making it market-ready.
According to such requirements, the manufacturing of screens uses a wide range of various alloys depending upon the application. Wedge wire is manufactured using red metals, carbon steel, duplex grades, aluminium, stainless steel,
and many other high-performance alloys like Inconel. A technical expert or metallurgist assists in selecting the right material and alloy and also solve the issues and questions if any.
A few typically used alloys are:
- Aluminium
- 2205 Duplex Stainless Steel
- 400 Series Stainless Steel
- 300 Carbon Steel
- Stainless Steel
- Titanium
- Nitronic
- Nickel alloys such as Inconel, Hastelloy, and Monel 400
Once the alloy is selected, the appropriate size of the wedge wire needs to be established for its application in the process’s next step.
Application of Wedge Wire
The wedge wire screen is usually manufactured in two to three types of screen, the most dominant types are cylindrical screen and flat-screen aluminium.
Further in cylindrical type, there can be basket and round screens. Wedge wire spreads its arm of application across a lot of industries. Given below are the specific applications of wedge wire in different industries.
- Food Processing
- Oil and Gas
- Applications in Architecture
- Microbrewery Beer Tanks
- Paper and Pulp Manufacturing
- Mineral Processing
- Intake of Mineral Water Reservoir
Wedge Wire Quality
While weighing if a wedge wire is suitable for a specific application, for a better quality its physical factors should be considered within the wire such as its uniformity, consistency, and surface finish.
An important factor for a screen is how continuous is the finish of the product, especially considering its architectural applications. Usually, visual defects and scratches are easily seen on most of the screens.
Also, for making the wedge wire successfully requires consistency in the spool of the product, it’s a very crucial point. Because having variation in spool means that the consistency is lacking within the slots of the wedge wire screen.
Bottom Line
Most of the wedge wires have acute tolerance but it also doesn’t mean that it is in the hands of customers to verify and finalize the shape of wedge wire as meeting the corner & nose measurements and mechanical properties is equally important. Another crucial factor is that it takes a long-term understanding of all the important aspects that go into manufacturing a successful profile bar.
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