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Working in the micrometer range

We have often spoken about it: One of the greatest advantages that we offer you is our production in the area of near-net-shape geometries. Because if you hardly have to treat a workpiece anymore, you save a lot of time and work, minimize your own tool wear and thus significantly reduce your costs.

What has not been mentioned so far, however, is how precisely we can adhere to your specifications. Because our plants do not just produce bar steel, which, with its rectangular cross-section profile, guarantees you savings of up to 70 percent compared to round material. We can do even more filigree.

The keyword is profile wire. Because here we are talking about the production of even the most unusual geometries and tolerances in the micron range. In this article we would like to give you an understanding of the most important details about our wire production.

For beginners: What is profile wire anyway?

If you are already a workpiece expert, you can safely skip this section. If, on the other hand, the word profile wire sounds more like a Bohemian village to you, then allow us a brief explanation.

In fact, it is not that easy to find an exact definition for the term profile wire. The entry on Wikipedia, for example, provides an extremely inadequate result. There profile wire is equated with square wire - and that is, with all due respect, far too short-sighted.

Because profile wires often have significantly more than four edges. For example, your cross-sections can look like this:

If you still talk about four edges, you really didn't pay enough attention a few times in school. Therefore our explanation is:

Profile wire is a wire that can be manufactured in the geometry of almost any solid profile and its final dimensions correspond to the cross section of a workpiece. Depending on the area of application, rings or rods are created that only have to be cut to the required size for further use.

Or to put it even more simply: We deliver ready-to-use workpieces that can be flexibly trimmed to the right length. This in turn represents a huge advantage for numerous productions. Because imagine the following scenario:

They produce the devices A, B and C in a similar design. Each of these devices requires a piece of the same profile wire, but device A needs the wire 100 milimeters long, B 120 and C 150. How many of the devices they produce each month depends of course on the incoming orders.
What is more economical now: having the different wire lengths in your warehouse at random and hoping for the best? Or to store a single ring several hundred meters long and always be able to cut the workpiece to fit the order situation?

For the sake of your business, you probably chose the second answer, and now you not only know what shaped wire is, but why it saves you tons of money and dead capital in the warehouse.

WE profile wire in facts and figures

Now that all readers are on the same page, we would like to go into detail: Which geometries are possible? How do we produce our wire? How do we ensure its consistently high quality? Our profile wire FAQ provides you with the answers to these and many other questions:

What dimensions are possible?

The smallest possible dimension in the profile wire area has a cross-sectional area of around 5mm2 in our factory.

To give you an idea of how fine that is: A ring of wire with this cross-section and a mass of one ton would have a length of 25,000 meters. A steel bar measuring 160 x 90 mm or a square bar with a cross-sectional area of 125 mm2 would be just eight to nine meters long with the same weight.

Which geometries can be manufactured?

In principle, any full profile is possible. Of course, this includes standard profiles such as flat, square, hexagonal or octagonal, D-profiles, T-profiles or bar profiles. In fact, however, almost any profile you require is feasible for us. No matter how complex it is.

We were probably able to give you an impression of your options with the images above. So simply send us your specifications or a drawing of your desired profile; with a probability bordering on certainty we can manufacture it.

Drawn or rolled?

Just like with geometries, we can do it all; draw wire or cold roll or we can combine both production methods in our process. In addition to the perfect end result, we also pay attention to the cost efficiency.

For example, a wire in a simple square profile usually only needs to be drawn once. More complex forming processes, however, require multiple forming processes including intermediate heat treatments to make the material formable again. Cold rolled wires, on the other hand, have a higher surface quality, clearer gloss and lower roughness. However, not all geometries can be realized with cold rolling. For these we use the corresponding drawing process or combine both methods.

In the end, your specifications, requirements and, last but not least, your budget expectations decide which process is used.

Which tolerances can be maintained?

Maintained tolerances play a crucial role in the manufacture of profile wire; it must always fit perfectly, not just almost perfectly. Accordingly, the tolerances we maintain are in the micrometer range throughout the entire production process and tolerate deviations of a maximum of ten micrometers.

For comparison: As is well known, a micrometer corresponds to 0.001 millimeters. A human hair has a diameter of at least 0.05 millimeters. That means we work so precisely that the maximum deviation is just a fifth of the diameter of a hair.

What about quality assurance?

The tightest tolerances are obsolete if they cannot be maintained throughout the manufacturing process. Quality assurance is therefore a top priority at the Einsal rolling mills.

First of all, in duty, as we work strictly according to international, recognized standards and regulations and have all relevant certificates. But above all in the free part, because our quality assurance takes place continuously throughout the entire production:

Tool wear or temperature fluctuations during production, which can lead to a deviation outside the tolerance range, are immediately detected thanks to the latest measuring technology. The end result is profile wire that meets your high standards over its entire length and not just over the first and last meters.
Furthermore, our continuous control allows an extremely high reproducibility. Whether you are ordering profile wire from us for the first time or for the hundredth time; you will not find a difference in quality and design.

Ring or Wand?

We can also answer the question of a ring or a rod: What do you need? Our production takes place ring to ring or ring to rod. So you can decide whether spooled rings or rods are the better solution for you.

Which steel grades are used?

Once again the answer is: what purpose do you intend to use your profile wire for? Because it is precisely this that determines which steel quality represents the optimum.

Alloyed high-grade structural steel, tool steel, stainless steel, free-cutting steel, titanium steel or steel based on a nickel-based alloy – everything is possible in principle. Our specialists will be happy to advise you on the best steel grade for your project.

Where is Made in Einsal profile wire already used?

Perhaps the greatest recognition of the high quality of our shaped wire is how many different uses it is used for on a regular basis across a wide range of industries. You can find our wires among others:

In medicine as implant profiles or bone plates
In the automotive industry in gears or seats
In the energy sector in generators
In the textile industry in slide rails
In mechanical engineering, for example as fasteners
In the armaments industry, including as a bolt carrier
In the paper industry, in the form of screen profiles

To speak of a versatile precision product would almost be an understatement.

Our profile wire for your company

Countless possible uses, the highest quality, precision in the My range - this is how our profile wire can be summed up in a few words.

The only question left is what we can do for you. Simply send us an inquiry with a drawing of your profile wire or make an appointment with one of our experts if you have any questions. Because for profile wire from Einsal, there is no such thing as impossible.