The zinc cut wire is obtained by cutting zinc alloy wire into pieces having the same length of the diameter.
The nature of the material (drawn zinc wire) and the production system totally exclude the presence of impurities and grains with inclusions, cavities, blowholes, cracks, etc.
Even if it has a cylindrical shape, this abrasive gets – during few working cycles – a spherical polyhedral shape. Such shape is then kept, even if there is a progressive reduction in the diameter, for the whole life cycle without any crushing events.
The zinc cut wire shot is employed in turbine shotblasting machines to deburr and clean non-ferrous materials and die-cast or mold-cast light alloy castings.
In particular it is suitable for:
- zinc die-casting
- magnesium die-casting (in accordance with BGR, 204, zinc shots and zinc-alloy shots having a low copper percentage are suitable to sandblast magnesium casts).
- aluminium die-casting
Uses and Advantages
Since zinc has a specific weight which is similar to the one of steel and stainless steel but with a low hardness and high deformability, the energy transmitted to the piece during sandblasting is significantly lower than the one of a steel cut wire shot or stainless steel cut wire shot.
The result is a perfectly deburred piece having a smooth and shining surface with low surface roughness, similar to the one which would be obtained through burnishing or tumbling.
More advantages are:
- remarkable reduction of the consumption compared to other types of abrasive, above all with zinc plus cut wire shot.
- reduction to almost zero in the consumptions of spares parts for the shotblasting machine with consequent reduction in maintenance costs and machine standstill times.
- fixing grains in possible holes of the sandblasted piece does not create problems for subsequent tool workings thanks to zinc high deformability and low hardness.
The zinc metal shots can be employed without distinction in turbine plants, with sandblasting machines free jet and pressure sandblasting cabins with an optimal performance.
Owing to technical reasons the same shots are not suitable to be used on depression sandblasting cabins.
