TEMPERATURE RISE IN WIRE-DRAWING

The use of high speeds in the wire-drawing process to meet the demands for increased productivity has a great effect on the heat generated d ue to plastic deformation and friction between the wire and the drawin g tools. Most of the mechanical energy converts to heat and results in temperature rises of the order of hundreds of degrees. This temperatu re rise greatly affects lubrication conditions, tool life and the prop erties of the final product. The use of a proper lubrication technique substantially reduces the amount of heat generated during drawing and consequently reduces energy consumption. Energy saving in many metal forming processes, such as the wire-drawing process, became an importa nt issue in a very competitive market. In order to achieve minimum ene rgy consumption, the minimum possible drawing force had to be establis hed by using the optimum die semi-angle, which in turn, has been estab lished as a function of the area reduction and the coefficient of fric tion between wire and die. Under a range of process parameters includi ng die angle, drawing speed, coefficient of friction and reduction rat io, the temperature rise for ten different materials has been calculat ed. The predicted values for temperature rise were compared with the e xperimental findings in the literature to examine the validity of the prediction techniques. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reser ved.