Bright vs. annealed baling wire

Bright and annealed baling wire offer different advantages. To choose the right type of baling wire for your application, consider your baler, the material you’re baling, and the bale storage duration.

The following table highlights and compares the features of annealed and bright baling wire.

Feature	Annealed wire	Bright wire
Finish	Black oxide coating with wax finish	Uncoated (bright)
Corrosion resistance	Low	None
Tensile strength	Moderate	High
Ductility	High	Moderate
Elongation	High	Moderate
Cost	Moderate	Low
Common uses	Indoor applications, baling expansive materials	Indoor applications, short-term storage, client-facing environments, low-cost operations

In general, bright baling wire has a lower cost per bale, while annealed wire is more ductile. 

About annealed baling wire

Black annealed wire goes through a heat treatment process called annealing, which involves heating and slowly cooling the wire to relieve internal stresses and increase ductility. Annealing leaves a black oxide coating on the wire's surface, providing annealed wire with some corrosion resistance. Annealed wire is known for its:

• Stress reduction: by relieving internal stresses built up during the drawing process, annealing reduces the risk of fatigue, fracturing, or cracking over prolonged periods of use.
• Improved mechanical properties: annealing improves the wire’s elongation properties, structural integrity, and flexibility, making it more workable and better suited for baling applications that require flexible, ductile wire.
• Improved wire efficiency: enhanced elongation properties can reduce the amount of wire needed.
• Enhanced electrical and magnetic properties: the heat treatment process improves conductivity and magnetism, which makes annealed wire a good choice for electric fencing.

Learn more about the pros and cons of black annealed wire.

Common uses

Recycling facilities use black annealed wire for baling expansive materials or materials that require short-term indoor storage, such as:

• E-waste
• Aluminum cans
• Copper
• ABS plastics
• HDPE and PET plastics
• Textiles
• Carpet

Annealed wire is excellent for baling expansive, bulky, or otherwise awkward materials that cause the wire to bend and twist excessively.

Our annealing process

Our black annealed wire undergoes a precise annealing process to enhance ductility and elongation. The process involves:

1. Heating the wire to a specific temperature above the recrystallization temperature
2. Maintaining the temperature for a designated amount of time
3. Slowly cooling the wire to relieve internal stresses and improve ductility

The annealing process gives our black annealed wire products an elongation value of up to 25%, compared to the 12% elongation of regular baling wire.

About bright baling wire

Bright baling wire (also known as uncoated wire) features a shiny, bright finish without any additional protective coating. This type of wire is known for its:

• Cost-effectiveness: the absence of additional coatings or treatments during the manufacturing process reduces costs, making bright steel wire an attractive option for indoor or short-term baling applications.
• Aesthetic appeal: the bright finish gives the wire a clean, shiny appearance that is good for retail settings and client-facing applications.
• High tensile strength: bright baling wire offers sufficient tensile strength for baling most recyclables.

Learn more about the pros and cons of bright baling wire.

Common uses

Recycling facilities use bright baling wire for baling materials that require short-term indoor storage, such as:

• Plastic film
• Plastic
• Foam
• Cardboard
• Magazines
• Office paper
• Tissue paper

Bright baling wire rusts quicker than annealed wire. It is best for applications where corrosion resistance is not a priority.

Our manufacturing process

Our baling wire undergoes a meticulous manufacturing process to produce exceptional wire. The process involves:

1. We begin by purchasing 100% American steel rods from select family-owned mills.
2. The raw materials arrive at our state-of-the-art factory where our team of over 120 trained technicians and 5 engineering experts get to work.
3. We use an innovative mechanical reverse-bending descaling technique to prepare the rods. This process reduces die wear and removes mill scale and surface rust, leaving behind a smooth wire surface.
4. A bull-block continuous wire machine draws the wire, narrowing it with increasing die gauges until the correct diameter is achieved. The inverse relationship between gauge and diameter means a higher gauge correlates to a smaller wire diameter.
5. After the wire has been drawn to size, it is gently air-cooled to ensure consistent tensile strength.

We exercise strict quality control to ensure our wire meets and exceeds industry standards. We remove wire that doesn’t pass testing so our customers only receive high-quality baling wire.

Our bright and annealed baling wire products

Baling Wire Direct offers high-quality bright and annealed baling wire products manufactured from premium-grade US steel.

Annealed baling wire products

We sell the following black annealed baling wire products:

• Black annealed box wire: for lower-volume auto-tie balers, sold in 50 and 100 lb boxes
• Black annealed stem wire: for high-volume automatic balers, sold in 1,900 lb stems
• Single loop bale ties: for manual-tie horizontal and vertical balers, featuring a single loop for variable bale sizes

Bright baling wire products

We sell bright double loop bale ties for manual-tie vertical and horizontal balers. They feature a double loop hooking configuration for quick tying.