Wire drawing is the another category of metal drawing operations. While rod and bar drawing refer to the drawing of larger cross sections, wire drawing refers to the drawing of relatively smaller cross sections.
The enormous amount of electrical wire and cable produced by this manufacturing method.
Some wire must be manufactured to tremendously small cross sectional areas, such as those used in electromagnets.
Wire may be drawn to diameters as low as .0001 inch. Diamond die inserts are often used in the production of extremely fine wire.
Metal work stock in wire drawing will usually undergo several reductions in diameter, since the mechanics of the process limit the amount of reduction in a single draw.
This is accomplished by drawing the work through several die in series, each producing an incremental reduction in the work's diameter.
Between dies the wire stock is wrapped several times around a motor driven rotating drum called a capstan, before proceeding to the next die in series.
Annealing of the metal may be performed between groups of operations. The capstans provide the force for the manufacturing process.
As the diameter is reduced, the speed of the wire is increased. Velocity of wire leaving the last mold in a series can be significantly higher than the velocity of the work entering the first mold.
Typically drawing speeds may be 20-100 feet per minute, but in some cases wire may be drawn at 10,000 feet per minute.
Pieces of stock can be end welded together as they are fed into the system of capstans and die so that the process will be completely continuous.
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