WIRE FOR ELECTRIC FENCING LINES AND ELECTRIC FENCING LINES MADE FROM SUCH WIRES

Abstract

A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines, said carbon steel wire having a corrosion resistant coating, wherein the carbon content of said carbon steel wire is below 0.20 wt % and said corrosion resistant coating is zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating with a coating weight in the range of 30 to 100 g/m.sup.2.

Claims

1. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines, said carbon steel wire having a corrosion resistant coating, wherein the carbon content of said carbon steel wire is below 0.20 wt % and said corrosion resistant coating is zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating with a coating weight in the range of 30 to 100 g/m.sup.2.

2. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein the aluminium content of said zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating is in the range of 3 to 20 wt %.

3. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 2, wherein the aluminium content of said zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating is 5 wt % or 10 wt %.

4. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein the magnesium content of said zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating is in the range of 0.1 to 5 wt %.

5. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein said carbon content of said carbon steel wire is below 0.05 wt %.

6. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein said zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating has a coating weight in the range of 40 to 60 g/m.sup.2.

7. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein said carbon steel wire has a diameter in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 mm.

8. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein said carbon steel wire is a redrawn wire.

9. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in claim 1, wherein said carbon steel wire has a tensile strength in the range of 900 to 1250 N/mm.sup.2.

10. A use of a carbon steel wire for electric fencing lines as in of claim 1, wherein the specific electrical resistance of said carbon steel wire is in the range of 4×10.sup.−8 to 5.0×10.sup.−7 Ω.Math.m.

11. An electric fencing line, comprising one or more carbon steel wires incorporated in a plastic material, said one or more carbon steel wire having a corrosion resistant coating, wherein the carbon content of said carbon steel wire is below 0.20 wt % and said corrosion resistant coating is zinc aluminium alloy or zinc aluminium magnesium alloy coating with a coating weight in the range of 30 to 100 g/m.sup.2.

12. An electric fencing line as in claim 11, wherein said electric fencing line is in a form of a tape, a rope, a strand or a plaited braid.

13. An electric fencing line as in claim 11, wherein said electric fencing line is an electric fencing tape made by plaiting, knitting or weaving said one or more carbon steel wires into non-conducting plastic filaments.

14. An electric fencing line as in claim 13, wherein said non-conducting plastic filaments are plurality of warp filaments and weft filaments made of polyethylene, polyamide, polyester, polypropylene or other plastic materials.

15. An electric fencing line as in claim 11, wherein said electric fencing line further comprises one or more copper wires being incorporated in the plastic material.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES IN THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The objects and advantages of the invention will be fully understood from the following more detailed description given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a coated carbon steel wire used for electric fencing lines according to the invention.

[0020] FIG. 2 compares the salt spray testing result for three different types of coated carbon steel wires.

[0021] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an electric fencing tape according to the invention.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a coated wire 10 according to the present invention. The coated wire 10 has a carbon steel core 12 and a zinc aluminium alloy coating 14. As an example, a low carbon steel wire having a carbon content of maximum 0.03 wt % and a silicon content of maximum 0.03 wt % was first coated with zinc aluminium alloy by hot dipping. Wire A is coated with zinc/aluminium in 95:5 of weight percent. Wire B is coated with zinc/aluminium in 90:10 of weight percent. The coated wire A and B is further redrawn to a diameter of 0.28 mm.

[0023] The corrosion resistance of the coated wire A and B is measured by salt spray testing (ASTM B117/DIN50021/ISO9227). For comparison, a carbon steel wire C with a same steel composition but coated with hot-dipped pure zinc is made as a reference. For the salt-spray testing, the samples were evaluated at 5% dark brown rust (DBR). Wire A, B and C are all redrawn coated wires with a same diameter of 0.28 mm and a similar coating weight of 46 to 48 g/m2. As demonstrated in the results shown in FIG. 2, wire A outperformed zinc coated carbon steel wire C by a factor of about 4, and wire B outperformed zinc coated carbon steel wire C by a factor of about 16. Wire B reaches about 576 hours (h) at 5% DBR. Also, it is noted that all these coatings maintain their corrosion resistance even after heavy deformation and heat exposure.

[0024] The tensile strength of wire B is 1080 N/mm.sup.2 which is higher than a stainless steel wire having a similar diameter. Also, the elongation performance of wire B is better than the stainless steel wire. The electrical resistance of wire B is 2.16 Ω/m (i.e. specific electrical resistance is 1.33×10.sup.−7 Ω.Math.m). It indicates that the coated carbon steel wire B is more electrically conductive than stainless steel wire having a similar diameter.

[0025] An electric fencing line in a form of tape 30 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The tape is woven from plastic monofilaments 32, e.g. polyethylene. The weaving is of conventional form and providing a selvedge 34, 36 at each edge of the tape. The coated carbon steel wires A or B, indicated by a, b or c in FIG. 3, according to the present invention are interwoven loosely with the plastic monofilaments 32 as warp monofilaments. To increase the conductivity of the electric fencing tape 30, copper wires 38 may be as well loosely interwoven into the tape.