Metal cladding of wire by atomization spraying
AssigneeFL Industries, Inc.
InventorsJames C. Keeven, Donald R. Felin, Henry J. Fisher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for uniformly cladding a metal wire with a coating of a second metal is provided. The metal wire to be coated is preheated in a non-oxidizing atmosphere to a temperature slightly less than the melting point of the metal coating. The metal coating is present as a molten metal in an atomization chamber. A source of preheated, pressurized, non-oxidizing gas is utilized to inject such gas into spray nozzles. Each spray nozzle also receives molten metal that is drawn into and atomized in the nozzle. The molten metal is thusly sprayed onto the metal wire moving through the atomization chamber.
Claims21
A method of cladding a metal wire with a second metal comprising the steps of:
- providing a metal wire and preheating said wire in a non-oxidizing atmosphere;
- spraying said preheated wire with a second metal that has been atomized in a non-oxidizing gas, and controlling the rate at which the wire passes through the spray of the second metal, the rate of the spray and the temperature defferential between the wire and the spray of the second metal such that the second metal is deposited on and bonded to the outer surface of the wire.
Apparatus for cladding metal wire comprising:
- at atomization chamber having an inlet opening adapted to receive a preheated metal wire and an outlet adapted to pass a clad metal wire;
- said atomization chamber including inlet means to permit entry of a molten metal and storage means to store said molten metal;
- said atomization chamber also including a gas source and a nozzle to which said gas source is connected, and an inlet from said molten metal storage means to said nozzle;
- whereby said molten metal is atomized at said nozzle by said gas and is sprayed onto said metal wire moving through said atomization chamber thereby forming a clad metal coating on said metal wire.
A method of coating a metal wire with a uniform coating of a metal composition comprising the steps of:
- providing a metal wire and heating said wire in non-oxidizing atmosphere to a temperature slightly below the melting point of the metal composition to be coated onto the wire;
- passing said heated wire into an atomization chamber,
- spraying said wire with an atomized mixture of the molten metal composition and a non-oxidizing pressurized gas, said spraying being arranged such that a uniform coating of the metal composition is deposited on said wire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.