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Melting and heat treatment
Parallel melts rather than a mill’s campaign, controlled atmosphere annealing, and a surface finish chosen per order.
Melting
| Furnaces | 20 in service |
| Operation | Parallel heats, not campaign runs |
| Minimum heat | 500 kg |
| Chemistry | Set per grade and verified before drawing starts |
| Alloy development | Sample melts on request |
Running heats in parallel is what allows an order to be melted to the grade the buyer specifies, rather than taken off whatever the mill was already running. It is also why a non-standard composition can be quoted instead of declined.
Annealing
| Intermediate | H₂/N₂ atmosphere, between drawing passes |
| Final | Bright anneal under in-line tension control |
| Purpose | Restore ductility; stabilise the EMF or resistance the lot is sold on |
| Control | Temperature and atmosphere recorded per run |
Surface finish
| Bright | Default for thermocouple and resistance wire |
| Oxidised | Where the customer’s process expects an oxidised surface |
| Electro-polished | Where surface condition affects the measurement or the subsequent coating |
| Pickled | Superalloy grades before further drawing or shipment |
If the finish matters to your process, name it on the enquiry. Bright and oxidised wire behave differently at the strander and at the weld.