Hooks, chains, and iron wire: which is the best binding method in hot-dip galvanizing?
The decade-long experience of Bottaro, ongoing comparisons with international companies, and industry associations allow for an analysis and comparison of different binding methods for hot-dip galvanizing artifacts.
This article will discuss:
- The mismatch between habit and innovation
- Comparing hooks, chains, and iron wire
- BWG™: the solution that ensures safety and savings
The mismatch between habit and innovation
During participation in industry association meetings and interactions with European, North, Central, and South American clients, the theme of binding steel artifacts in the hot-dip galvanizing process often emerged.
On these occasions, our technicians have observed vastly different working methods, often finding a lack of compliance with safety regulations, which, although still varying from country to country, are now aligning to ensure high standards concerning human resources and the environment.
Operators within departments often use outdated binding and galvanizing process management systems and do not follow training courses that would allow them to fully understand the hot-dip galvanizing process, including its risks and dangers. This is partly because many companies do not apply the four SSPI rules – savings, safety, productivity, and innovation – as a basic principle for correct and successful business management.
However, even though many companies still operate in old ways or are reluctant to change, during meetings with many industry operators at association meetings, BOTTARO technicians have found that safety, quality, and savings have become of primary importance and that efforts are being made to raise the organizational bar and ensure that current regulations are implemented and respected by all.
For this reason, companies wishing to modernize their facilities often find that habit and innovation do not go hand in hand, especially concerning the steel binding method for immersion in the zinc bath.
Comparing hooks, chains, and iron wire
Ensuring the four SSPI formula rules – savings, safety, productivity, and innovation – sometimes means having to break away from entrenched habits of “it’s always been done this way” to make room for more technological solutions that comply with current safety regulations, while also ensuring greater productivity and economic benefits.
Let’s look at the binding methods used in galvanizing plants and understand why they are used, their advantages, and disadvantages.
Hooks for Galvanizing
Hot-dip galvanizing hooks are used for suspending light structures, offering the flexibility to be purchased in specific shapes from the supplier or shaped directly by the user. This method speeds up and simplifies the hooking operations, and according to the operators our technicians interacted with, it seems that hooks conform to the RSPI formula. However, unfortunately, this impression is not confirmed. Let’s explore why.
Normally, the purchase of hooks does not include the individual certification of each element. Moreover, even when a certificate is present, it loses its validity the moment the galvanizer bends the material to create the hook. This operation, in fact, alters the mechanical characteristics of the used hook.
The mechanical strength characteristics of these hooks, after multiple immersions in chemical treatment and zinc, do not remain constant. The material can undergo a phenomenon known as hydrogen embrittlement due to the pickling and stripping process, making it more fragile, similar to glass. This change in mechanical properties represents a potential source of workplace accidents.
Chains for Hot-Dip Galvanizing
For heavier and larger artifacts, galvanizing plants often use chains as a binding system. Unlike hooks, chains are always supplied with certification but are still not a solution that guarantees safety and productivity.
The continuous use of the same chains indeed interferes with the chemical structure of the hooks and consequently, their mechanical performance, causing breaks.
During the galvanizing process, the chains, repeatedly going through the chemical process and zinc immersion, undergo hydrogen embrittlement, becoming brittle and unpredictable regarding when they might break. Chains do not have a specific validity or a determined number of uses in the process, making them extremely dangerous, especially considering their use in suspending heavy parts, potentially causing serious accidents during production.
Furthermore, given their high-strength iron composition, they are highly reactive to zinc, characterized as hyper-sandelin steel with significant zinc adherence, resulting in a waste of precious raw material.
Iron Wire for Hot-Dip Galvanizing
In the context of hot-dip galvanizing, iron wire emerges as an extremely safe and efficient option for binding. Unlike hooks and chains, iron wire is designed to ensure the integrity of the RSPI and offers several advantages.
The use of iron wire eliminates the risk of frequent breakages, providing stability to the process. Moreover, the certification of each batch of iron wire is guaranteed, ensuring compliance with safety and productivity standards. Its unique use, associated with its mechanical strength and low adherence to zinc, contributes to an efficient and safe application in the galvanizing process.
Unlike hooks and chains, iron wire does not suffer the detrimental effects of hydrogen embrittlement during the process since it is not reused, becoming a reliable choice to optimize safety, durability, and efficiency in galvanizing.
BWG™: the Solution that ensures safety and savings
BWG™ – Bottaro Wire Galvanizing – is the hot-dip galvanizing iron wire engineered by Bottaro in collaboration with the most renowned Italian universities and industry associations, capable of effectively responding to the four RSPI rules. This product indeed emerges victorious for the tenth consecutive year thanks to the continuous increase in quantities sold worldwide.
Which is the difference between common wire and BWG™?
Savings
The BWG™ and BWG™Plus galvanizing iron wire has structural properties that reduce zinc absorption compared to the wire on the market. This characteristic leads to significant raw material savings and a consequent economic benefit for the company.
Safety
With equal strength, the BWG™ and BWG™Plus iron wire is very malleable, significantly facilitating the binding operation for the operator. Maximum strength and malleability are fundamental mechanical properties that improve worker safety by preventing the risk of breakage and possible physical damage due to binding.
Productivity
Greater ease of binding and safety are at the basis of increasing productivity for the galvanizing plant, which, thanks to the BWG™ and BWG™Plus iron wire, allows the galvanizing plant to be more efficient from a production and thus economic standpoint.
Innovation
BOTTARO products, including BWG™ and BWG™Plus, are the result of continuous research conducted by technicians and universities, in collaboration with industry associations, aiming to always offer a cutting-edge product. Moreover, the robotized production with sensors along the entire production line guarantees a safe wire centimeter by centimeter.
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