Hot and cold cutting wires are made from a variety of metals and used for industrial cutting purposes.

HOT WIRE CUTTING is used to cut rigid foam materials such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) and expanded polyurethane (EPU).

A rigid cutting wire is connected across a variable low voltage supply causing it to be heated to a suitable temperature for cutting the desired material.

Too low a temperature or too low a feed speed will result in a ragged cut due to melted material re-hardening in the kerf. Too high a temperature will result in excessive wire stretch and reduced wire life.

A variety of metals from stainless steel to nickel chrome alloys (often with a copper coating to reduce sticking) are used, depending on the machine parameters of wire configuration and length of cut.

Similar heating wires are used for cutting and sealing polythene bags and wires with a composite profile are able to perform these operations simultaneously.

NOCKERS ENGINEERING PRODUCTS supply hot cutting wire in several alloys, typically in the diameter range of 0.30mm – 0.60mm to Original Equipment Manufacturers and end-users.

COLD CUTTING WIRES are used for abrasive cutting either as a rigid wire knife or a rotating wire band saw.

Typical materials are high tensile carbon steel wires or high tensile alloy steel wires containing chrome or manganese. For cutting food items such as cheese, high tensile stainless steel wires are specified.

For high density materials and long or profile cuts, a strand of several wires may be necessary. Specialised strands may comprise a harder cutting wrap wire over a more resilient multi-wire core.

NOCKERS ENGINEERING PRODUCTS supply both core and wrap wire materials for the manufacture of cutting bands.