Thermal Spray, Hardfacing & Wear Coatings worked example

Wire Consumption at 61% deposit efficiency: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop deposit efficiency to 61%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Wire consumption tells a thermal spray shop how much solid or cored wire it must feed to build a coating over a given area on twin-wire arc or combustion wire (flamespray) equipment.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Total surface area to coat: 500 units (held at the documented default)
  • Wire needed per unit area (as-deposited): 0.08 units (held at the documented default)
  • Deposit (transfer) efficiency: 61 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 85)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Required wire consumption = covered amount × use per unit ÷ transfer efficiency.
  • Required quantity works out to 65.57 units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Theoretical amount works out to 40 units at these inputs.
  • Loss allowance works out to 25.57 units at these inputs.
  • Efficiency works out to 61 % at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where deposit efficiency sits at 85% and the headline result is 47.06 units, this scenario comes in 39.34% above the baseline at 65.57 units.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to deposit efficiency, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. Transfer efficiency for wire processes shifts with atomizing air pressure, arc current, and spray distance, so a single stored figure will not fit every part; verify against your own arc-spray logs.

Results at a glance

  • Required quantity: 65.57 units (headline result)
  • Theoretical amount: 40 units
  • Loss allowance: 25.57 units
  • Efficiency: 61 %

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Wire Consumption calculator, set deposit efficiency to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.