What Is Galvanized Wire Used for?
Galvanized steel wire is an inexpensive and versatile wire product that possesses excellent flexibility, high tensile strength, and aesthetic looks. It is also corrosion and rust resistant by experiencing the chemical processes of hot-dip or electro galvanization. This galvanizing method equally enhances its service life and withstands many negative impacts of environment, making it widely serve a number of purposes in the industry and home. Let’s discuss together.
Galvanized Wire Uses
1. Protecting Your Properties
A common one is to protect properties with fencing. This type of wire is strong and easy to work with, so it’s the perfect material to build a perimeter around houses, schools, playgrounds, expressways, bridges and so on. Besides, it is also an ideal choice for making cages or enclosures for poultry and animals.
When constructing a fence, it can be in the form of barbed wire or razor wire to provide higher deterrence. The very sharp edges of razor wire can frighten most living things and secure your properties from robbers and animals. In some instances, the wires can be placed on the top of fences to deter people from climbing them.
2. Binding Materials
Another use for GI wire is in the binding and baling materials on construction sites to keep them from falling. Galvanized wire is considered an all-weather and strong material which makes it so popular among builders. A house built with galvanized wire also benefits from an added property value. And packing products in our daily life.
Besides these, you can also use them outside the home, such as locking down windows to keep the home insulated or secure. It is also beneficial to pack products in our daily life. These wires are strong yet soft and flexible enough to be molded easily.
3. Supporting Purposes
In the agricultural industry, galvanized steel wire can be used to support climbing plants or trees during growth, such as tomatoes, grapes, etc. Due to its strong corrosion resistance, it can withstand the corrosion of pesticides and other chemicals.
In addition, because of its high tensile strength, the galvanized steel wire is also useful to secure expensive artwork, paintings, and projections on walls. Similarly, it helps to secure mirrors and other objects that may fall and shatter, causing damage and injury.
4. Other Uses
Some other examples of commercial and personal uses for galvanized steel wire include:
– Making handicrafts and household items like bookshelves, vase holders, storage baskets, jewelry, etc.
– Used to make wire rope, nails, springs, multi-core cables, telephone wires, ties, and other everyday items.
– Making wire cloth, gabions, suspension bridges, swings, etc.
– Used to suspend or hang telecommunication cables or barrier cables, earth wires or ground wires, etc.
There are still many other uses for galvanized steel wire too—with possibilities that are only limited by imagination. Or waiting to be discovered by you.
Characteristics of Galvanized Wire
Zinc
The term “galvanized” means that metal has been specially treated with zinc. Essentially, the basic wire is completely coated in a very thin layer of zinc. It is this zinc coating that gives galvanized wire its useful properties. Zinc can be applied using a method in which the wire is actually dipped into a molten bath of zinc, or it can be electroplated onto the surface of the wire.
Rust Prevention
One of the most important properties of galvanized wire is its ability to resist rusting. This is what makes it so well-suited for use in the open, such as on fences. The constant rain and damp weather would rust non-galvanized wire very quickly. The salt in shipyards also contributes to potential rust problems with much of the equipment in that environment. Galvanized wire holds up well, though, even when hit with wet and salty conditions.
Resistant to Damage
The zinc coating on a galvanized wire also provides the steel wire with a hard, protective coating. Exposed steel wire is relatively easily chipped, scratched and otherwise damaged in ways that weaken the strength of the wire. The zinc coating on a galvanized wire provides a shield between the steel and the outside world because it is much more resistant to chips, cuts and scratches than plain steel alone.
Fire Resistance
Galvanized wire is also useful in industrial applications where fire is a hazard. When wire is hot-dip treated, the melting point of the resultant zinc is even higher than regular zinc. It doesn’t start to melt until roughly 650 degrees Celsius. The zinc coating’s resistance to melting helps keep the steel on the interior of the wire from reaching its own melting point. As a result, hot dip galvanized steel wire stays strong in most fires.
What Is Galvanization?
Galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron in order to prevent premature rust and corrosion. Proponents of galvanized steel, who may use it to construct or repair steel structures, for example, benefit from lower maintenance and repair costs because of its special properties.
Without protection, steel will rust due to atmospheric conditions over time. The degree of rust will depend on the environment that the product is in. Rust is an iron oxide (typically a red oxide) that is formed by the reduction and oxidation reaction of iron and oxygen, in the presence of water or air moisture.
There are protective methods such as painting or plastic coating, but these methods do have drawbacks. When damaged, sections of the steel will become rusty and the protective coating will fall away, making these types of protection non-lasting and unreliable (always needing continued maintenance).
One of the better methods of protecting steel materials against corrosion is through hot-dip galvanization. With hot-dip galvanization, all the surfaces of the material are dipped into, and completely coated with, molten zinc.
Benefits of Galvanizing
The corrosion of zinc is very slow, which gives it an extended life while it protects the base metal. Due to the alloying of the Zinc to the iron, cathodic protection occurs. This ensures that small areas of steel which may be exposed through damage are not compromised by rust. Unlike organic coatings, small damaged areas need no touch up. The cathodic protection will last as long as the zinc layer is present.
Take special care if your project requires contact between any galvanized material and copper or brass. This is especially true in a moist or humid environment as rapid corrosion of the zinc could occur. Water running off a copper or brass surface could have enough dissolved copper in it to cause rapid corrosion. If this applies to your situation, prevent it by ensuring the water flows from the galvanized material to the brass or copper parts.
Conclusion
In a word, buying GI coated wire has been a popular choice due to its countless benefits and increasing applications. And more and more companies start to produce this wire, which is available in a wide range of thicknesses and lengths to suit diverse needs of users. This also makes the galvanized wire a promising investment project. Besides producing galvanized products, Wanzhi Steel also sells PVC wire mesh, concrete mesh, garden mesh, construction tying wire, etc. With them, you can find any product you want. In addition, they can also provide you with solutions. If you are looking for these products, contact them now to get the products you want!
