TECHNICAL PAPERS

Fig. 9. SEM micrograph of collected fines, which are

flake-like and indicative of delamination wear.

erate fines generation at the next die.

Wire-to-wire contact. It is quite common to have wire-to-
wire contact, particularly in cone-type drawing machines.
Fines may develop due to adhesive wear when wires moving
in different directions impact each other. If this cross-over
contact is too severe the likelihood of torsional wire breaks,
kinks or twisting is accelerated. The tendency for cross-over
is magnified because of insufficient back tension or misalign-
ment.

Techniques for analyzing fines
There are numerous methods for analyzing fines, which can
provide the needed insight on means to reduce their forma-
tion. The categories discussed herein are as follows.
Wire and rod surface examination. Wire and rod surfaces
can be analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and metallography. The outer surface con-
tains information on how fines have been liberated from the
metal surface. Figs. 2, 5-8 and 15 show illustrations of the var-
ious fines generation mechanisms observed through wire sur-
face and subsurface observations. Most dramatically, Fig. 8
shows a fine in the process of separation via delamination
wear. Observing the fines generation mechanism process on
the wire fosters an understanding of how to reduce fines. Rod
surfaces can also be examined after twist testing, since twist-
ing exposes existing subsurface damage. Replica technique
has been used to observe wire surfaces in low-depth of field
optical microscopes14-15. If the wires are not cleaned before
making a replica, some of the fines that adhere to the wire will
become embedded in the translucent replica material. This
allows the viewing of the fines simultaneous with observation
of the wire surface, as shown in Fig. 16.
Examination of fines collected from filtration systems. Large
samples of fines can be readily obtained from the filtration
systems. These fines should be ultrasonically cleaned in a sol-
Fig. 10. Slivers in copper caused by rod and drawing
issues; a) Rod-related sliver; b) cross-section near
sliver showing cracks forming due to embedded
oxides; and c) Sliver in enameled copper wire caused
by wire drawing. No oxides are present. X240.
vent, such as n-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP). After the fines are
cleaned and dried, their particle size distribution can be deter-
mined. There are expensive instruments that determine parti-
cle-size distributions automatically on near spherical particles.
However, fines are more often flake-like or slivers, and can-
not be diagnosed in the automated systems.
The best particle size determination method for fines is
inexpensive but time-consuming. It employs a series of
sieves, typically ranging from 2,000 to 38 microns pore size,
which are used to collect fines of a specific size. The collect-
ed fines are then weighed. A particle size histogram is created
by calculating the percentage of the total fines weight that
remained in each sieve. The histogram reveals the predomi-
nant fines generation mechanism(s) in operation. For exam-
ple, delamination wear particles will be, by far, the largest.
Through this method Patel and Chia7 found that fines from
tungsten carbide dies were much coarser than particles from

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