Aluminium wire drawing, high gloss cutting, and anodising Wire drawing

Aluminium wire drawing, high gloss cutting, and anodising

Wire drawing

Metal brushing is the manufacturing process of repeatedly scraping lines out of aluminium sheets with sandpaper. Wire drawing can be classified as straight wire drawing, messy wire drawing, rotary wire drawing or threaded wire drawing.

The brushed metal process clearly reveals each and every one of the fine filigree marks, resulting in a matte metal with a fine hairline sheen and a product that is both stylish and technical.

High-gloss cutting

The diamond cutter is reinforced with a high speed (typically 20,000 rpm) spindle to cut the part, creating a localised highlight area on the surface of the product. The brightness of the cut highlights is influenced by the speed of the milling drill, the faster the drill speed the brighter the cut highlights, and vice versa the darker and more likely to produce knife patterns.

High-gloss high-gloss cutting is particularly used in mobile phones, such as the iPhone 5, and in recent years some high-end TV sets have adopted a high-gloss milling process for their metal frames, combined with anodising and brushing processes to give the TV set an overall sense of style and technological sharpness.

Anodising

Anodising refers to the electrochemical oxidation of a metal or alloy, where aluminium and its alloys are subjected to an electrolyte and specific process conditions to form an oxide film on the aluminium product (anode) due to the action of an applied current.

Anodising not only solves the defects of aluminium surface hardness and wear resistance, but also prolongs the service life of aluminium and enhances its aesthetics, making it an indispensable part of aluminium surface treatment.

Two-colour anodising

Two-colour anodising is the process of anodising a product and giving specific areas a different colour.

Two-colour anodising is more costly because of the complexity of the process; however, the contrast between the two colours better reflects the high-end, unique appearance of the product.