Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Pass schedule of wire drawing process to prevent delamination for high

strength steel cord wire
S.K. Lee a, D.C. Ko b, B.M. Kim c,*
a
PNU-IFAM Joint Research Center, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-Dong, Kumjeong-Gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea
b
ILIC, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-Dong, Kumjeong-Gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea
c
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-Dong, Kumjeong-Gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The high-speed drawing of high carbon content steel wires is usually conducted at room temperature
Received 30 September 2008 employing a number of passes or reductions through several dies. In the multipass drawing process,
Accepted 8 January 2009 the temperature rise at each pass affects the mechanical properties of the final product (such as its bend-
Available online 15 January 2009
ing and torsion properties, and its tensile strength). This temperature rise during deformation encourages
delamination in the wire, which has a deleterious influence on the torsional properties and durability of
Keywords: the wire. In this study, we investigated the delamination of wires using torsion tests and evaluated the
Wire drawing process
wire temperature during drawing. Our data shows that one of the main reasons for delamination was
Wire temperature
Delamination
an excessive rise in wire temperature. Based on our experimental results, in order to prevent delamina-
Torsion test tion due to an excessive rise in wire temperature, a new isothermal pass schedule that could control the
Temperature control wire temperature was designed. The pass redesign for the conventional high carbon (0.75 wt%C) steel
Isothermal pass schedule cord wire drawing process with delamination was carried out by using the isothermal pass schedule
to control the wire temperature. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, wire draw-
ing and torsion test were conducted. From the results of experiments, it was possible to produce high car-
bon steel cord wire without delamination.
Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction microstructure and texture, residual stress, and particular drawing

High-speed wire drawing has become very common recently,
because of an increase in customer demand and an increase in
industrial rates of production. Due to its relatively simple geome-
try in comparison with other metal-forming processes, wire draw-
ing is mostly understood in terms of its mechanical behavior. The
wire drawing process consists of the plastic deformation of a metal
as it is pulled through a die, resulting in a cross-sectional reduction
in area and an overall increase in length of the original material.
High carbon content steel wire is one of the strongest commer-
cially available steels. In recent years, the demand for high- or
ultrahigh-strength steel wire has intensified due to increasing con-
cerns with saving energy. One of the biggest obstacles in increasing
the strength of these wires is due to delamination, which is a type
of fracture characterized by a longitudinal split and a serrated pro-
file in the torque–strain curve under torsion [1]. Previous studies
have shown some of the phenomenological aspects of delamina-
tion [2–5]. For example, delamination is associated with a patented
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 510 2319; fax: +82 51 514 7640.
E-mail addresses: o3man@pusan.ac.kr (S.K. Lee), dcko@pusan.ac.kr (D.C. Ko),
bmkim@pusan.ac.kr (B.M. Kim).
conditions [1–5].
Approximately 95% of the mechanical energy involved in high-
speed drawing is transformed into heat. As a result, a temperature
rise of several hundred degrees Celsius can be experienced in the
wire, thus having a detrimental effect on the quality of the product.
The higher the temperature rise experienced in high-speed wire
drawing, then the sooner the effective threshold of static or dy-
namic strain-aging in drawn wire is reached [6]. It is known that
an increase in strength and a decrease in ductility following
strain-aging in these steels favors the occurrence of fractures dur-
ing drawing, and compromises the performance of the final prod-
uct [7,8]. These changes in properties are more drastic for aging
temperatures above 200 °C. Therefore, to obtain wire that com-
bines a good ductility with a high strength by preventing strain-
aging (which causes delamination), a wire has to experience a slow
a temperature rise as possible, and any heat generated must be re-
moved as quickly as possible.
In this work, we have investigated delamination caused by the
heat generated in drawn wires. The steel cord wire for the rein-
forcement of automotive tires is one of the representative high car-
bon steel wires. The wire temperature rise in a conventional wire
drawing process for the high carbon (0.75 wt%C) steel cord was
estimated using theoretical methods and measurements. The

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2009.01.007
2920 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927

conventional wire drawing process used was a dry wire drawing 450
process that consisted of nine passes, and is one of the manufactur-
A (No delamination )
ing processes for tire steel cords. In addition, to evaluate the occur- 400
rence of delamination, torsion tests were performed, and from
350
these measurements, it was found that delamination appeared
when the wire experienced an excessively high temperature. Based

Torque (N·mm)
300
on these results, an isothermal pass, which can control the wire
temperature, was designed to help prevent delamination of the 250
wire after each pass. Through the wire drawing and torsion test,
the effectiveness of the isothermal pass was verified. From the re- 200
sults of experiments, it was possible to produce high carbon steel B (Delamination )
150
cord wire without delamination.
100
2. Delamination
50

A degradation in torsion behavior means both a decrease in the 0

number of torsions needed to experience failure and also a torsion
fracture surface that is no longer has a smooth and flat aspect.
Torsion fracture surfaces can be classified into three types,
ranging from completely flat to very irregular [8]. Fig. 1 shows
the different types of torsion fractures and their codes used to clas-
sify them in laboratory torsion tests. The three types of fractures
typically result from delamination. Delamination is characterized
by a longitudinal splitting at the wire surface during the early
stages of plastic torsion deformation. With further torsioning, the
crack extends along the sample length, giving it a typical helical as-
pect. On measuring a torque-angle curve, this splitting is charac-
terized by a sharp drop in torque at delamination. Fig. 2 shows
this behavior for two 1.0 mm diameter wires originating from
the same hypereutectoid steel wire rod, but with a different degree
of total dry drawing reduction [8]. The wire without delamination
assumes a flat fracture surface aspect in the torsion test (Fig. 1,
Type 1A).
In steel wire drawing, many parameters influence the occur-
rence of carbon steel delamination [9]. Among the most important
of these are: (i) the metallurgical process of smelting the steel; (ii)
the rolling process; (ii) the patenting of the wire rod and wire; and
(iii) the drawing process. Because of the large number of variable
factors, operation with simultaneous examination is very difficult.
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Angle (Thousand degree )
Fig. 2. Torque angle data for dry-drawn 1.0 mm diameter wires (test
length = 200 mm).
Wistreich [10] has stated that because of the increase in heat due
to the high speeds at which rope and spring wire are drawn, the
properties of these wires can be adversely affected to such an ex-
tent that they are not adequate to meet requirements. In particular,
the number of torsions and bends decreases. Steininger [11] has
pointed out that an increase in temperature in the die can lead
to local hardening of the wire up to the point of where martensite
structures form. Such martensite inclusions cause brittleness and
can result in surface delamination during torsional stressing.
Schultz and Puengel [12] achieved a greater number of torsions
and bends by cooling both the dies and the wire to subzero tem-
peratures. Zitkow and Pospiechow [13] showed that ropes made
from wires drawn using small reductions in area had better fatigue
properties due to less heat being created during the drawing pro-
cess. Schweir [14] considered that the drawing temperature had
much influence on the quality of fractures after the wire was tor-
sionally stressed.

1A 2A 3A

1B 2B 3B

2C 3C

Fig. 1. Different types of torsion fractures and their codes used in laboratory torsion tests.
 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927 2921

Table 1
Chemical composition of the wire used.

Components C Si Mn S P Al Cu
wt% 0.75–0.78 0.15–0.25 0.60–0.90 0.02; 0.02; 0.01–0.05 0.10;

3. Evaluation of delamination Table 3a

Conditions of the conventional drawing process.
3.1. Drawing conditions
Process parameter Value
Semi-die angle (°) 5.5
The steel cord wire for reinforcement of tires is manufactured
Coefficient of friction (l) 0.06
by three drawing processes from the initial wire with diameter Bearing length (mm) 0.5 do (do: diameter at the exit of the
of 5.5 mm [15]. The first and second drawing processes are dry die)
drawing, and the final drawing process is wet drawing process. Final drawing speed (m/min) 700
The drawing process used in this work was a second dry drawing Temperature of the surrounding air (°C) 39
Temperature of the cooling water in the 28
process. The wire material was a high carbon content steel that
block (°C)
contained 0.75–0.78 wt% of carbon. Table 1 shows the chemical Initial wire temperature (°C) 47.0
composition of the wire. Heat partition coefficient 0.8
The applied drawing process reduced the diameter of the wire Tip material Tungsten carbide
from 3.500 to 0.950 mm, and consisted of nine passes. The diame- Die case material Steel (AISI 1075)

ter of the wire and the reduction in area at each pass are listed in
Table 2. And the process conditions are summarized in Table 3.

3.2. Torsion tests

To evaluate the occurrence of delamination, we carried out tor-

sion tests, and Fig. 3 shows the torsion test machine used equipped
with torque sensors. The sample length used was 100 times the
diameter of wire. Using the torsion test machine, the occurrence
of delamination was evaluated by assessing the number of torsions
exhibiting fractures and the shape of the torsion fractures. The
number of torsions observed and the occurrence of delamination
are summarized in Table 4. From the torsion tests, we observed
that after the seventh pass, the number of torsions leading to fail-
ure decreased due to delamination.
Fig. 4 shows the shape of the torsion fracture surface at each
pass. The shape of the torsion fracture surface was completely flat
from the first to the sixth pass. However, the torsion fracture ex- Fig. 3. Torsion test equipment.
tended along the wire length, giving it a typical helical aspect at
the seventh, eighth, and ninth passes. This observation showed
us that delamination occurred at the seventh, eighth, and ninth
passes. Table 3b
Results of the torsion tests.
In high-speed wire drawing, an excessive rise in wire tempera-
ture promotes both static and dynamic strain-aging, and this is one No. of passes No. of torsions Fracture mode
of the main reasons for the occurrence of delamination. To investi- 1 30 Flat fracture
gate the effect of the wire temperature on delamination, the wire 2 47 Flat fracture
temperature was measured using a contact-type thermometer at 3 39 Flat fracture
4 36 Flat fracture
the inlet and the exit of the die. Fig. 5 shows the measured wire
5 44 Flat fracture
temperature. From data shown in Fig. 5, we can see that the wire 6 41 Flat fracture
temperature in the final three passes, where delamination occurs, 7 35 Delamination fracture
was higher than in the other passes at the exit of die. In particular, 8 32 Delamination fracture
9 28 Delamination fracture

Table 2
Diameter of the wire and reduction in area at each pass.
No. of passes Diameter (mm)
Initial wire 3.500
1 2.880
2 2.460
3 2.100
4 1.800
5 1.550
6 1.370
7 1.200
8 1.060
9 0.950
the temperature at the seventh pass, where delamination initially
Reduction in area (%) appears, was a maximum of about 200 °C. Therefore, the tempera-
– ture has to be controlled as low as possible to prevent the delam-
32.3 ination. Fig. 6 shows the microstructure observed at both the initial
27.0 and seventh passes in the longitudinal direction. Fig. 6a shows that
27.1
26.5
the patented initial microstructure consisted of fine pearlite. In
25.8 Fig. 6b, fiber structures of pearlite lamella and pro-eutectoid ferrite
21.9 aligned to the drawing direction are observed. After 7th pass, we
23.2 can see the several micro-void that influence on the onset of
22.0
delamination in torsion test. The excessive temperature causes
19.6
the strain-aging that can deteriorate the ductility of the wire.
2922 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927

 
Table 4 1 4
Process conditions used in the wire drawing experiments. T die;out ¼ T die;in þ F  km þ pffiffiffi f2  a  kfm ð4Þ
A  f2  q  c 3 3
Process parameter Value
where, q is the density of the wire, c is the specific heat of the wire,
Total number of passes 9 Tdie,in is the wire temperature at inlet of the die, and Tdie,out is the
Semi-die angle (°) 6.0
wire temperature at exit of the die.
Coefficient of friction (l) 0.06
Bearing length (mm) 0.5 do (do: diameter at the exit of the On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 7, friction exists between
die) drawing die and wire, and the generated heat by the friction is
Final drawing speed (m/min) 700 irrelevant to the temperature in the drawing die and wire. It is just
Temperature of the surrounding air (°C) 39
added to the quantity of the heat generated by the volumetric
Temperature of the cooling water in the 28
block (°C) deformation and internal shear deformation.
Initial wire temperature (°C) 47.0 Therefore, in order to calculate the heat generated due to plastic
Heat partition coefficient 0.8 deformation, internal shear deformation, and friction at the die–
Tip material Tungsten carbide wire interface, the following heat balance equation is required
Die case material Steel (AISI 1075)
Limit wire temperature (°C) 180.0 f2  v  q  c  z  ðT die;out  T die;in Þ
 
1 4
¼ F  km þ pffiffiffi f2  a  kfm þ m  Q  km  l ð5Þ
A 3 3
The wire temperature at the exit of the drawing die is given by
And this is the main reason the micro-void initiates the [16,17]
delamination.  
1 4
T die;out ¼ T die;in þ F  km þ pffiffiffi f2  a  kfm þ m  Q  km  l
4. Temperature control through pass schedule to prevent A  f2  q  c 3 3
delamination ð6Þ
where, Q (=F/sin a) is the contact area between drawing die and
We redesigned the initial conventional drawing process used
wire, l is the coefficient of friction at the interface between the wire
into an isothermal pass schedule that involved no delamination
and the die, and m is the heat partition coefficient, and denotes the
in the wire due to the equal temperatures at the exit of the drawing
quantity of heat transferred to the wire due to friction at the inter-
die at each pass. To achieve an isothermal pass schedule, we calcu-
face [16]. Some 80–90% of the generated heat at the interface due to
lated the temperature rise in the wire that included the tempera-
friction is transferred to wire, and the remaining 10–20% is trans-
ture rise in the deformation zone as well as the temperature
ferred to the drawing die. This heat partition coefficient has a value
drop in the block, and we considered the heat transfer between
of 0.8–0.9 when the drawing speed is >1 m/s. We used a value of the
the wire and the surrounding air.
heat partition coefficient = 0.8, and this value is applied to all the
passes to calculate the rise in wire temperature.
4.1. Calculation of the wire temperature
In general, high carbon steel wire drawing is a continuous pro-
cess. The air surrounding the multistage drawing machine and
It is important to estimate the rise in wire temperature to pre-
block cools the drawn wire from a relatively high temperature as
vent delamination of the wire. The various troubles caused by rise
it is drawn through the die, as shown in Fig. 8. In the cooling zone,
in the wire temperature are able to be prevented through the con-
the drawn wire is cooled by the below heat transfer mechanism.
trol of wire temperature. A rise in the wire temperature can be re-
duced when the appropriate process variables are selected. If the
– Exit of drawing die ? Inlet of block (1st exposing zone)
friction between wire and die is not considered, the deformation
: Convection with the drawn wire and the surrounding air
is ideal and all of the plastic deformation energy is converted to
heat, the quality of generated heat in wire by volumetric and shear – Inlet of block ? Exit of block (Coiling zone)
deformation can be delivered from the following equations: : Convection with the drawn wire and the surrounding air, con-
duction in the outer layer of block and convection with cooling
1 water in block
Wa ¼ F  km  v  z ð1Þ
A – Exit of block ? Inlet of next drawing die (2nd exposing zone)
1 4
W b ¼  pffiffiffi  kfm  f2  a  v  z ð2Þ : Convection with the wire and the surrounding air
A 3 3
where, Wa is the quantity of heat generated by volumetric deforma- To predict the wire temperature in the cooling zones, the time-
tion work, Wb is the quantity of heat generated by internal shear dependent temperature for an extremely small wire exposed to the
deformation work, F (=f2  f1) is the deviation of the cross-sectional surrounding air and coiled in the block was examined [17]. The for-
area of the wire between inlet and exit of drawing die, km is the mulae used for calculating the time-dependent wire temperature
average deformation resistance during the deformation of wire, are shown in the following equations at each position, as shown
kfm is the mean yield strength before and after deformation of wire, in Fig. 8. At the inlet of block
   
f2 is the cross-sectional area of the drawn wire at exit of drawing hair
T block;in ¼ ðT die;out  T air Þ exp  t þ T air ð7Þ
die, v is the drawing speed, z is the deformation time of the wire, pqdc A
a is the semi-die angle, and A is the conversion factor.
with
Therefore, the wire temperature without the consideration of
 P   
the friction between drawing die and wire at exit of drawing die dT 1= Rt þ hair 1 T
þ T¼ PCW þ hair T air ð8Þ
is as follows: dt qrc qrc Rt
f2  v  q  c  z  ðT die;out  T die;in Þ At the exit of the block
   
1 4 B B
¼ F  km þ pffiffiffi f2  a  kfm  v  z ð3Þ T block;out ¼ þ expðAtB Þ T block;in  ð9Þ
A 3 3 A A
 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927 2923

Fig. 4. The shape of the wire fractures.

P P
1= Rt þhair T CW = Rt þhair T air
where A ¼ qrc and B ¼ qrc , and at the inlet of the where, Tblock,in is the wire temperature at the inlet of the block, Tair is
next drawing die the temperature of the air surrounding the drawing machine, hair is
    the convection heat transfer coefficient, d is the diameter of the
hair wire, c is the specific heat of the wire, tA is the time that the wire
T die;in ¼ ðT block;out  T air Þ exp  t þ T air ð10Þ
pqdc C moves to the inlet of the block after passing through the previous
2924 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927

220  Stage 1. Design the drawing process into the type of isoreduction
required in the area pass schedule according to the initial and
200
final wire diameter and the total pass number.
180  Stage 2. Compare the calculated wire temperature with the lim-
Wire temperature ( C)

160 ited wire temperature.

O

 Stage 3. Replace the wire diameter at each pass until the calcu-
140
lated wire temperature had the same value as the wire temper-
120 ature limit.
100  Stage 4. Repeat the above stages until the pass number was the
same as the total pass number.
80  Stage 5. Repeat Stages 3 and 4 until the final wire diameter was
60 the same as the given wire diameter.
40  Stage 6. Terminate the procedure if the final wire diameter was
Inlet of die the same as the given wire diameter.
20 Exit of die
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4.3. Pass schedule for isothermal pass
No. of pass
The effective stress–strain relationship of the initial high carbon
Fig. 5. Wire temperature at the inlet and the exit of the die.
(0.7 wt%C) wire obtained from the tensile tests is defined as
P
die, Rt is the thermal resistance, Tblock,out is the wire temperature r ¼ 2411:40e0:2802 ½MPa ð11Þ
at the exit of the die, T is the time dependent wire temperature, TCW
The other process conditions, e.g., the semi-die angle, coefficient of
is the temperature of the cooling water, tB is the time that the wire
friction, and bearing length, are summarized in Table 5. The semi-
is coiled in the block, and tC is the time that the wire is positioned
die angle was increased by 5.5° reduced to 6.0° to decrease the heat
from the exit of the block to the inlet of the next die. Eqs. (8)–(10)
generation due to the friction between the wire and the die. And the
respectively present the wire temperature according to the time
other process conditions are similar with those of the conventional
from exit of the (n)th drawing die to the inlet of the block (exposing
drawing process.
zone), from the inlet of the block to the exit of the block (coiling
Fig. 10 shows a comparison of the reduction in area between the
zone), and from the exit of the block to the inlet of the (n + 1) the
conventional and our redesigned isothermal pass schedule to con-
drawing die (exposing zone). The temperature drop in the exposing
trol the wire temperature. As shown in Fig. 10, the reduction in
zone is too small quantity in the comparison with that in the coiling
area of the redesigned pass was higher than that of the conven-
zone. Therefore, the temperature drop in the cooling zone mainly
tional pass from the second to the sixth pass, which exhibits no
depends on the staying time of wire in the coiling zone. The temper-
delamination. However, from the seventh pass, where the delami-
ature drop in the block is exponentially decreased according to coil-
nation commences in the conventional drawing process, the reduc-
ing time.
tion in area of the redesigned pass was smaller than that of the
conventional pass. This means that there was a decrease in the
4.2. Procedure for the isothermal pass schedule to control wire
heat generated at the seventh, eighth, and ninth passes, due to a
temperature
decrease in plastic deformation from the decrease in the overall
reduction in area. In addition, the reduction in area of the first pass
Using the above equations, the drawing pass was redesigned as
decreased by about 5%. It is possible to increase the reduction in
an isothermal pass that had equal temperatures at the exit of each
area of the first pass because the drawing speed is comparatively
die. The procedure used to obtain the isothermal pass schedule is
slower than the other passes. However, the high reduction in area
shown in Fig. 9. The sequence for redesigning the applied drawing
causes the excessive die wear that can decrease the die life. There-
process had the following nine stages:

Fig. 6. Scanning electron micrographs of the wires.

 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927 2925

Fig. 7. Geometry of drawing die.

Fig. 9. Procedure used in the isothermal pass schedule.

Table 5
Torsion test data for the redesigned drawing process.

No. of passes No. of torsions Fracture mode

1 32 Flat fracture
2 44 Flat fracture
3 41 Flat fracture
4 38 Flat fracture
5 42 Flat fracture
6 39 Flat fracture
7 40 Flat fracture
8 38 Flat fracture
Fig. 8. Cooling zone between the (n)th and the (n + 1)th die, and the temperature 9 40 Flat fracture
variation with time.

fore, the reduction in area of the first pass of the isothermal pass is
more benefit to the drawing process than that of the conventional
pass.
To verify the effectiveness of our redesigned isothermal pass
schedule, a drawing experiment was carried out, and the wire tem-
perature was estimated at each pass. The data from the calculated
and measured wire temperatures at the exit of dies are shown in
Fig. 11 for comparison. In Fig. 11, the wire temperature, which
was calculated using the theoretical equations given above, was
close to the measured wire temperature. The wire temperature
at the seventh, eighth, and ninth passes was lower than that of
the conventional drawing process. In particular, the temperature
at the seventh pass, where delamination begins in the conventional
process, decreased by about 30 °C, from 200 to 170 °C. Therefore, it
is expected that delamination, which is caused by excessive heat
generation, will be prevented.
Torsion tests were carried out to evaluate if delamination had
occurred in the wire produced by the redesigned pass. Table 5
shows the number of torsions and the occurrence of delamination.
As shown in Table 5, the number of torsions at the seventh, eighth,
and ninth passes did not decrease, and no delamination occurred in
the wire at all the passes.
Fig. 12 shows a comparison of the torsion curves from the rede-
signed and the conventional drawing process at the final ninth
pass. In the redesigned drawing process, the torque increases
smoothly without showing a sharp decrease. Therefore, it can be
known that there is no delamination in the wire. However, in the
conventional drawing process, the torque dropped several times
during the test due to the occurrence of delamination. Especially,
it is understood that the torque drops sharply as soon as the tor-
sion test starts because the delamination occurs already in the pre-
vious passes. From the above results, it is possible to produce wire
that has no delamination by using our redesigned isothermal pass.
Fig. 13 shows the shape of fracture of the final drawn wire for
the redesigned drawing process. It can be seen that the flat fracture
occurs after the torsion test without delamination.
2926 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927

35

30
Reduction in area (%)

25

20

15

10

5
Present pass schedule
Redesigned isothermal pass schedule
Fig. 13. Shape of fracture after shape of the 9th pass for the redesigned drawing
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 process.

No. of passes
Fig. 10. A comparison of the reduction in area between a conventional and a
In the wire drawing process for high carbon steel wire, many
redesigned pass.
mechanisms have been proposed to explain the delamination, such
as metallurgical defects for example, micro-voids, strong fiber
structure and micro-segregation, etc [18]. In this research, it can
200 be known that the excessive wire temperature rise causes the
delamination because the brittleness of the drawn wire increases
Wire temperature at exit of die (OC)

180 as the wire temperature rise. For this reason, micro cracks occur
160 in the defects and these cracks initiate the delamination.

140
5. Conclusions
120
In the wire drawing process of high carbon steel, the design of
100
the appropriate pass schedule should be required to prevent the
80 occurrence of delamination due to the temperature rise. Excessive
heat generation in the drawing process causes delamination in the
60
drawn wire due to strain-aging, and the occurrence of delamina-
40 tion deteriorates the torsion properties of the wire. Using torsion
Calculated temperature
tests, wire temperature prediction, and an isothermal pass sche-
20 Measured temperature dule to control wire temperature, we have been able to deduce
0 the following conclusions:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
No. of passes (1) The occurrence of delamination was evaluated using torsion
tests for a drawing process involving nine passes, which is
Fig. 11. A comparison of the calculated and measured wire temperature at the exit
of the die for the redesigned isothermal pass. the second drawing of the three drawing processes used to
produce high carbon tire steel cords. From the test results,
delamination occurred at the seventh, eighth, and ninth
passes.
70 (2) Through an evaluation of the wire temperature, we observed
that the wire temperature during the final three passes,
60 where delamination occurred, was higher than in the other
passes. In particular, the temperature at the seventh pass,
50 where delamination initially appeared, was the maximum
temperature observed (about 200 °C).
Torque (Nmm)

40 (3) A method that could calculate the wire temperature was

established by considering the heat generated due to plastic
30 deformation, internal shear deformation, friction at the die–
wire interface, and the drop in temperature in the cooling
zone.
20
(4) The second drawing process used was redesigned using the
Redesigned drawing method determined from the predicted wire temperature
10 Conventional drawing and isothermal pass schedule. As a result, the wire temper-
ature of the redesigned drawing process was about 170 °C
0 in all the passes. The predicted wire temperature was in
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
good agreement with the measured wire temperature in
No. of torsions
the drawing experiments. The wire temperature at the sev-
Fig. 12. A comparison of the torque curves of the conventional and the redesigned enth, eighth, and ninth passes was lower than that in the ini-
drawing pass for the final drawn wire. tial second drawing process. In particular, the temperature
 S.K. Lee et al. / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2919–2927 2927

at the seventh pass, where delamination initiates, decreased [4] Lefever I, D’Haene U, Raemdonck WV, Aernoudt E, Houtte PV, Sevillano JG.
Modelling of the delamination of high strength steel wire. Wire J Int
by about 30 °C (from 200 to 170 °C).
1998;November:90–6.
(5) The result of the torsion tests on the wire, which was pro- [5] Ibaraki N, Makii K, Ochiai K, Oki Y. Wire rods for ultra tensile steel cord. Wire J
duced using the redesigned drawing process, demonstrated Int 2000;March:122–9.
that delamination did not occur in any of the passes, and [6] Nakamura Y, Kawakami H, Fujita T, Tamada Y. New cooling system for high-
speed wire drawing. Wire J 1976;July:59–66.
as a result, the torsional properties of the drawn wire were [7] Roesch L. Developments in the drawing of metals. London: The Metals Society;
improved. 1983.
[8] Raemdonck WV, Lefever I, D’Haene U. Torsion tests as a tool for high strength
wire evaluation. Wire J Int 1994;June:68–75.
Acknowledgements [9] Godecki L. The delamination of spring wires during torsion testing. Wire Ind
1969;January:48–51.
This research was financially supporting by the Ministry of Edu- [10] Wistreich JG. The study of high-speed drawing. Met Treat Drop Forging
1963:20.
cation, Science Technology (MEST) and Korea Industrial Technol- [11] Steininger Z. Some common defects in prestressed concrete wire. Wire Ind
ogy Foundation (KOTEF) through the Human Resource Training 1965;382:42–9.
Project for Regional Innovation, and the Korea Foundation for [12] Schultz EH, Puengel W. Ueber den Einfluss des Altens und Anlassens auf die
Festigkeit-Eigenschaften von gezogenen Stahldraeten. VDE 1964;100:963.
International Cooperation of Science and Technology (KICOS) [13] Zitkow EI, Pospiechow FP. Stalnyje kanaty. Moscow; 1965.
through a grant provided by the Ministry of Education, Science [14] Schweir F. Betriebsuntersuchungen ueber den Einfluss der Ziehtemperatur auf
Technology (MEST) in 2008 (No. K20601000004-08E0100-00410). die mechanischen Eigenschaften von Stahldrat. Stahl und Eisen 1959:20.
[15] KISWIRE LTD. <http://www.kiswire.com/english/product/
product_120104.asp>.
References [16] Geleji A. Bildsame Formung der Mettale in Rechnung und
Versuch. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; 1960.
[1] Shimizu K, Kawabe N. Fracture mechanics aspects of delamination occurrence [17] Jo HH, Lee SK, Kim MA, Kim BM. Pass schedule design system in the dry wire-
in high-carbon steel wire. Wire J Int 2002;March:88–95. drawing process of high carbon steel. J Eng Manuf 2002;216:365–73.
[2] Heizmann JJ, Tidu A, Bolle B, Peeters L. Influence of the crystallographic texture [18] Kawabe N, Murai T. Effect of hydrogen on ductility and toughness in heavy
on the torsional behavior of steel cord. Wire J Int 1999;July:150–8. drawn steel wire. Wire J Int 1999;August:82–90.
[3] Golis B, Pilarczyk JW, Blazejowski Z, Dyja H. Small final reductions in the
drawing process of rope wires. Wire J Int 1999;April:184–93.