- Metallurgical testing
- Product Engineering
- Annealing
- Pickling
- Cut-to-length
- Custom service; bar coding EDI; JIT;
- Warehousing, stocking
- Packaging
Article
Wire Forming Technology Intl.
Fall 2004 issue
Emphasis article: Shaped Wire
Contact:
Tom Hiller
Marketing Manager
Bekaert Corporation - Specialty Steel Wires, North America
East Pine & Lake Streets
P.O. Box 608
Orrville, Ohio 44667 USA
www.bekaert.com
Bekaert Corporation’s, Specialty Steel Wires group, offers the Wire Forming Industry a broad range of wire products individually engineered for specific applications. This is most evident by the shaped wires produced at Bekaert’s facility in Orrville, Ohio, USA (formerly Contours, Ltd., established in 1970).
The Orrville, Ohio facility produces shaped wires: fine wire, flat wire, and custom-designed metal profiles and parts. This plant also makes specialty round wires with specific metallurgical properties and coatings needed by our customers to cold-form their finished products.
Many of the profiles produced by Bekaert-Orrville are quite large, ranging in width up to 2 inches (51mm) and depending on cross-sectional area, up to .600” (15.24mm) in thickness.
Bekaert-Orrville supplies more than 30 different industries, most of which form or fabricate shaped wire into their finished products. A partial listing of the industries served are: Agricultural, Appliance, Automotive, Bearings, Fasteners, Furniture, Hand & Power Tools, Hardware, Hose and tubular products, Housewares, Materials Handling, Medical, Power Generation and Power Transmission, Screw Machining, Springs, Stampings, Store Fixtures and Displays, Toys and Recreational Equipment, and several others.
Bekaert-Orrville processes most material grades: low to high carbon steels, alloys, tool steels, free-machining grades, bearing grades, stainless steels, titanium, nickel-based alloys, and non-ferrous grades. Bekaert-Orrville also offers coated wires, galvanized and when corrosion matters, Bezinal®.
Bezinal’s zinc-aluminum alloy coating provides superior corrosion protection, exceeding galvanized steel wire. In many applications, Bezinal® may be a suitable, and less expensive alternative to stainless steel. Bezinal-coated wires can be flattened, shaped, and formed.
Bekaert-Orrville utilizes both cold-rolling and cold-drawing to produce custom shaped wire and shaped metal profiles, from simple shapes to very complex:
Cold-rolling refines the grain structure of the material, which makes it harder and stronger. Cold-rolling results in an excellent surface finish, allowing painting or plating with minimal surface preparation.
Cold-drawing provides tighter dimensional tolerances and sharper corners, both inside and outside radii. Extremely complex and asymmetrical profiles can be produced by cold-drawing.
Bekaert-Orrville has in-house heat treating capabilities and can offer a wide range of physical properties including specific hardness and tensile ranges. Annealing can provide shaped wire and shaped metal profiles that are soft and ductile for severe forming applications. They also offer hardening and tempering, a thermal process that strengthens steel through controlled heating and cooling.
Shaped wire and shaped metal profiles can be provided in coil form for automated feeding. These same profiles can be provided in bar lengths or exact-cut pieces from ¼” (6.35mm) to 20 ft. (6.096m). Hole punching and embossing is also available.
Whether by coil, bar length, or individual cut pieces, Bekaert-Orrville offers custom packaging options designed to save money and improve productivity.
Bekaert-Orrville Quality Assurance laboratory is A2LA accredited and its quality system is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
For questions about, or to discuss applications for fine wire, flat wire, shaped wire, or shaped metal profiles and parts, or to receive additional information on Bekaert-Orrville, please contact orrville.info@bekaert.com
Company profile… Bekaert Corporation (N.V. Bekaert S.A.) headquartered in Zwevegem, Belgium has manufacturing and sales locations around the world. Bekaert is a technological leader in metal transformation and coating technologies. Bekaert Specialty Steel Wires, North America has manufacturing facilities in Orrville, Ohio, USA