wire drawing

wire drawing

Wire drawing

The reduction of the diameter of a metal rod or wire by pulling it through a die. The working region of dies are typically conical (see illustration). The tensile stress on the drawn wire, that is, the drawing stress, must be less than the wire's yield strength. Otherwise the drawn section will yield and fail without pulling the undrawn wire though the die. Because of this limitation on the drawing stress, there is a maximum reduction that can be achieved in a single drawing pass. After large drawing reductions, wires or rods develop crystallographic textures or preferred orientations of grains. The textures are characteristic of the crystal structure of the metal. See Alloy, Metal, Metal, mechanical properties of, Metallurgy