Spray and Fuse: Come Together

With the growing emphasis on environmental stewardship, thermal spray practices are on the rise. Manufacturers are not only looking to save money but also looking to create less waste. Since Thermal spray brings new life to otherwise out of service parts, more are turning to it to repair their machine parts as opposed to replacing them with new ones. In some cases the standard mechanically bonded thermal spray is not the best choice for these repairs. In this case going with a spray and fuse coating can be the best method for repair.

Strong Bonds

Spray and fuse is the use of high heat to increase the bond between the coating and the substrate of the part. Typically using self-fluxing alloys, similar to welding, spray and fuse achieves a metallurgical bond between the coating metals and the base materials. Due to this fusing of materials, in depth knowledge of the base material and any other previously applied coatings, is required. Our sales team uses their engineering experience to analyze and select the proper metals and techniques for your project.

If You Can't Stand the Heat...



Spray and fuse can be used for many parts but is especially effective in high-stress and wear situations. Due to the high heat involved in the fusing process the best candidates for spray and fuse tend to be larger parts. The larger sizes allow them to withstand the high heat without distorting. With that being said small parts are able to be spray and fused as well but they have to be engineered correctly prior to processing. The spray and fuse processes use temperatures similar to those in welding. Some parts we have seen spray and fuse work well for are valve balls, augers, exhaust fans, sucker pumps and pump pistons. Not every part will be a good candidate for spray and fuse but there are many benefits for those that are.

"Wear" are the Benefits?

Since spray and fuse achieves a metallurgical bond between the coating and the part itself, the coating bond strength is very high. Metallurgical bonding means that the metals in the coating and the metals on the surface of the part are intermingling. This fusing of metals creates a coating without voids and parts that can withstand more wear over longer periods of time. The wear characteristics of spray and fuse can be compared to those of hardface weld overlaying.

Some of the same metals used in hardfacing can also be used in spray and fuse. Our go to spray and fuse metals are Colmonoy 88, nickel cobalt, tungsten carbide and nickel chrome alloy. Heating up metals to increase the bond may seem simple, but it requires someone with expertise in the process to do it right. You need knowledge of both welding and thermal spray techniques, as well as the engineering knowledge of metals and how they interact.

Technology + Craftsmanship

Even though spray and fuse as been around for a while, it is certainly not outdated. Spray and fuse has many benefits when applied in the right situations. It marries the ease of thermal spray with the high-stress wear characteristics of hard face weld overlays. Our sales team has the engineering knowledge and experience to select the proper coating and coating process while our craftsmen have the many years of experience in both welding and thermal spray needed to get a quality spray and fuse coating. Spray and fuse is where thermal spray and welding meet and HTS Coatings is the place where technology and craftsmanship come together.