TECHNOLOGY Core Wire it does not produce slag and
can reach an efficiency of almost 980 g of deposited material per kg purchased as opposed to manual electrodes with slag that usually reach a maximum of 600 g. When it comes to operational life, with
the new wire it is possible to achieve a completely smooth surface finish. A smooth surface without the need for grinding is very important for wear coatings. The ridges produced by most products reduce friction and consequently increase stress, which causes a rapid loss of material in the first few hours of work and can lead to premature aging.
New developments in materials Producing this alloy as a welding wire was impossible for many years due to limitations in raw materials and production methods. The 6070N alloy achieves its
performance thanks to high levels of alloying elements such as vanadium, niobium, molybdenum, chromium, carbon, among others. These are distributed evenly throughout the alloy’s microstructure, giving it consistent high strength and hardness. However, there are practical limitations
on how much alloying content can be included in a flux cored wire. This FCW is like a very long cigarette, with a high alloyed steel strip being formed around a flux composed of
a wide variety of different materials. During the welding process, the flux and strip melt together into the weld pool and form the required alloy. The challenge for highly alloyed
materials like 6070N is that as the alloying content increases, the number and size of the wires increases. However, the space inside the wrapper is limited, meaning that flux cored wires are usually restricted to a maximum of 35 per cent alloying content. Because DO*6070N contains more than 35 per cent alloying elements, we were not able to produce it in the form of a wire. However, in 2021 we learned about
new developments in raw materials that created an opportunity. We immediately established a research team to develop the welding wire version of the product, including researchers at our laboratory and manufacturing facility in Dublin, Ireland, with support from experts in Madrid and Belgium, and our customer testing workshop in Austria.
Overcoming the challenge With the new approach, it’s possible to combine the raw materials to include all the required alloying elements for DO*6070N into a flux-cored wire. Instead of mild steel, the new product uses a strip that contains alloying materials. However, this created a challenge since the strip is less straightforward to draw and handle, meaning that it can only be produced on the advanced machines at our manufacturing facility in Ireland. We then produced the first 1.7-tonne
batch for our own testing and customer evaluation. The new wire underwent
36 / WELDING WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 03 - May 2024
extensive testing at a specialist metallurgy laboratory in Vienna, Austria to ensure that it achieved the required levels of quality and consistency. Launching it onto the market in March
2023 was an important milestone as we could then offer it to customers. However, industrial companies always act with care as they need to carry out their own evaluation when introducing new materials and new products into their critical equipment – so in many ways the product launch is only the start of the story. We’re now working with customers
across a range of industries to test the EnDOtec 6070N flux-cored wire against comparable products. We see it as having huge potential for wear facing coatings in the toughest environments.
Potential applications Some of these potential applications are at room temperature and above, such as in machines that knead rubber and process minerals. Its extreme high temperature
capability means the new wire alloy is also suitable for sinter crusher bars and rotors and in the furnace feed screws in waste-to-energy plants. Ultimately, the new wire creates an
opportunity for professional welders to help industrial companies extend the life of critical components that experience heavy wear from a combination of abrasion, corrosion and high temperature. In turn, operators will be able to extend maintenance intervals and keep equipment in service for longer.
www.castolin.com
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