Recent advances inwiredrawing

machine design and manufacturing

Manufacturers should follow advances in wiredrawing and

annealing design if they are to take advantoges of improved
technology.
By George Meseha

To appreciate the current advances in higher than for modem and advanced
wiredrawing design, one has to consider designs because of these friction losses. Die
the historical background. The author's geometry must be computed accurately to Symbols
first exposure to wire drawing machines avoid wire breaks and capstans and annealer U ' Circumferential Velocity
was in 1964, at Electro-Cable Egypt, sheaves are high-wear items as a result of of Each Capstan (FPM)
where Herborn TF-rod breakdown friction. The resulting wire surface quality v Velocity of Wire (FPM)
machines were used for drawing copper is not suitable for magnet wire quality and, V1 ,V2 Respective Speed of Wire
and aluminum rod on the same machine. finally, copper fines generation is excessive. of Subsequent Sizes
The take-up was driven by a flat belt The key factors in wiredrawing mechanics
Av Amount of Slip Between
directly on the wire on the spool in order are discussed below and how they are
Wire and Capstan
to control the spool's speed. Wiredrawing addressed by traditional, modem, and
Av% Percent of Slip Between
technology has come a long way since advanced wire drawing technology is
Wire and Capstan
then. described.
(To Copper Flow Stress
Equipment manufacturers, such as .t Coulomb Coefficient of Friction
Niehoff, Samp, Henrich, Sket, Frigeco and Reduction in Area % vo Velocity Entering the Die
others, have produced many good wiredraw- In wiredrawing operations, the reduction vf Drawing Speed
ing machines. Most ofthe OEMs have made in area after passing through a die is usually ,13 Wrap AngleAround Capstan
continuous improvement to their equipment defined as: (Radians)
design. This paper outlines the differences Ar= ((Initial Cross SectionArea-Final TI Viscosity of Lubricant
between the traditional, modern and Cross Section Area)/Initial Cross Section Back Tension Stress
Sxb
advanced design. Area) x 100 = Percent Reduction Sxf Wire Drawing Stress (PSIG)
The following important points must be Fa Drawing Force (lb.)
Definition and fundamentals of realized:
wiredrawing system design Fb Back Tension Force (lb.)
*Two passes at 20.6% (one B&S) do not
Fe Exit Force or Spooling
Traditional design machines are defined provide a total reduction of area of 41.2%, Tension (lb.)
as those where slip between the wire and but 37%; this means that the reduction of
Ar Reduction in Area
the capstan exists as a result of the fixed area percentage cannot be added.
L Length
speed ratio drive. All cone and tandem type *Reduction of area is used as a measure
machines equipped with gear boxes or belt ofthe "amount of cold work." D Diameter
driven are considered to have a traditional E Elongation
design. Traditionally, capstans are driven by Elongation % V Volume
few motors and gear boxes of fixed speed The wire passing through a die is length- vr Velocity Ratio, or
ratios, wire has radial friction as well as axial ening by E%. which is a ratio called the sr Speed Ratio
friction with capstan surface and between elongation%: S Slip
adjacent wraps due to variability in the sys- E/o= [IncreaseWinWireLength(ALD/
tem. The energy requirements for traditional Initial Length (L)] x 100, 7 7 7 sr r R , ,, = = = 7 \ 7

designs are typically about 20 to 30 percent

56 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

 Since the rate of flow is constant, i.e.,
volume/minute= Constant, then:
(initial length) x (initial area)-
(final length) x (final area)
Volume of wire(constant).
Elongation percent can also be calculated
as:
E= [(Initial:Area- 1) /FinalArea] x
100forAWG
or
E = ncrease in Velocity (Av)/
Iitial Velocity (vi)]
Machine capstan speed ratio
and slip percentage
The first compartment of the wiredrawing
machine is designed as an equal-draft
machine for Brown & Sharp reduction in
area (20.6/o), for most American.manufac-
turers. European manufacturers prefer
tapered drafts. Tapered drafts start with high
reduction in area.at the first few drafts and
taper down. gradually to a smaller area
reduction towards the finished end. The
main difference between these two types of
machines is the capstan speed ratios.
The capstan speed ratio is usually defined
as follows:
sr = [(Speed of Capstan #n- Speed of
Capstan #(n - 1))/Speed of Capstan #
(n- 1)]
Where n is a given capstan's number oi
the number of drafts in the single and multi-
wire machine.
1 + Speed Ratio = Wire Velocity Ratio=
[dnl/dnl 2
ThIe velocity ratio of the wire must be
larger than capstan speed ratio:
(vr)wir,,e> (sr)capstan
and
(vr)vviie- (SOcapstan =C
Where C is a constant that determrines the
amount of slip.
When: C= 0 -> Non-slip case;
Slip=0
C < 0 -> Wire must break
Practically: C >.2%
T i
wire-never the opposite. This speed differ-
,1"
ential is the amount of slip, defined as: ; - . .-:
S = v capstan - v wire on same capstan
Av
Recall the following relationships:
(1+ sr) = (sr)capsta
Then for a given capstan:[traditional
design machines]
S = [1- (sr)/(vr)] x 100
and
S = [(1- (1 + sr))/(l + sr)] x 100 annealer (see the section regarding optimiz-
ing the annealer design).
In an advanced design, the multi-motor
The relevant mathematical steps will lead
to the following relationships: system is combined with dancer rollers to
sense the actual speed variation between
Slip at Capstan #n = I - capstans for closed loop control (Fig. 2),
which varies the capstans' speed ratios to
(Finish Capstan Speed FPM)
(Speed of Capstan #n FPM)
(Velocity of Output Wire)
(Velocity of Wire at Capstan #n)
In order to avoid wire breaks, the wire
speed ratio must be equal to or greater than
M
the capstan speed ratio. All conventional
slip-type single and multi-wire drawing
machines, such as the one shown in Fig. 1,
are designed with a fixed speed ratio
between the capstans (traditional design).
The most critical design criterion for tradi-
tional wiredrawing machines is the ability
of the designer and operator to minimize slip
Meseha
percentage throughout the system. The opti-
mum solution, of course, would be zero-slip George M. Meseha is executive
machines. At the very least, the machine
director of Meseha Advanced Tech-
should be run at the minimum slip, although
nologies LLC, Salem, Connecticut,
some vendor technicians like to .run at a high USA, which provides a range of con-
slip percentage to cover up other problems
sulting services to the copper manu-
in the machine. Most ofthe traditional exist-
facturing industry., He previously
ing wire machines have slip that varies.
was general manager for Phelps
This is not the case in the modem multi- Dodge Copper Products in Norwich,
motor driven capstans. This modem design
Connecticut, as well as engineering
has reduced but not elininated the problem.
division manager for Phelps Dodge's
Each individually driven stand is precisely
facilities in Norwich and El Paso,
controlled by motor controllers given pre- Texas, USA. He had 24 years of expe-
set speeds by the central PLC. A simple
rience with Phelps Dodge. He holds a
multi-motor system is usually set up with
master's degree in computer science
directly driven capstans. The elimlination of engineering from Rensselaer Poly-
bacldash and noise from the gear box and
technic Institute, and an M'S. degree
flexibility to precisely adjust, and maintain
in mechanical engineering from the
speeds at each capstan are the benefits.
Polytechnic Institute of New York.
Modem designed machines are based on
This paper was 'presented at WAI's
multi-motor variable speed drives in the 74th Annual Convention, Cleveland,
wire drawing machine compartments as
Ohio, USA, June 2004.
well as the finish capstan output to the
JUNE 2005 57

Fig. 2. A non-slip rod breakdown machine.
match the required wire elongation percent-
age. This system most accurately meets the
definition of true non-slip. This takes place
in real-time without operator intervention
and is thus self compensating for die wear,
eliminating the increase in slip over time of
even modem machines.
Slip and friction, besides increasing the
energy requirements, cause wear, which
generates copper fines and suspended parti-
cles in the emulsion. Theseparticles load the
filtration system and cause wire breaks if
pressed into the surface of the wire. Any
reduction of their generation improves the
average uptime and perfonnance ofthe wire
drawing machine.
Axial and inter-wrap friction
In traditional machines, axial and inter-
wrap friction is caused by wrap to wrap con-
tact on cylindrical capstans, because the
wraps are not separated and there is no force
keeping them positively separated. Modem
machines use tapered capstans to impart an
axial component offorce to minimize wrap-
58 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
Fig. 3. An offset idler arrangement.
to-wrap contact and cross over and cross
under (wire breaks). Friction against the
inside radius persists, however.
In advanced machines, where no relative
motion exists between the wire and the cap-
stan surface, an axially offset idler capstan
can be used (Fig. 3) to provide positive sep-
aration of the wraps. The idler arc of contact
and capstan arc of contact combine to pro-
vide the necessary traction on the wire.
Separation of lube oil and
wiredrawing emulsion
Traditional wiredrawing machines are
plagued with cross contamination between
lubricating oil of the gearboxes and the
emulsion system. It is imperative that any
wiredrawing machine, multi -wire or other-
wise, must be designed with some system,
such as a false chamber, that prevents the
lubricating oil from leaking into the wire-
drawing emulsion. These oil leaks affect the
fat content in the wiredrawing emulsion
substantially and accordingly increase the
slip. In fact, these cause the slip percentage
to fluctuate, which could lead to an uncon-
trolled condition or wire break. At the same
time, it is essential to prevent the wiredraw-
ing emulsion from going into the lubrica-
tion system oil, which will damage the gears
and,bearings. Modern and advanced
machine designs eliminate these problems
by elimination of gear boxes altogether
through direct-driven capstans with individ-
ual motors. When selecting a system, ask
the OEM's design engineer about the
specifics in this area.
Annealer design
In the traditional annealer, the belt-driven
contact sheaves and the first preheat contact
sheave are used as the finish capstan. The
rest of annealer contact sheaves are mechan-
ically driven by prestretched belts. The
speed ratio between sheaves is fixed (con-
stant). There is no compensation for slip.
The slip between the wire and contact
sheaves generates copper fines, arcing and
bum-in annealer (wire breaks). This slip
reduces the lifetime of the contact sheaves
and increases downtime, yet many cunrent
multi-wire equipment manufacturers still
produce this slip-type system. To be able to
run when problems arise, the vendor's tech-
 -~~
p_f@--~~~~~~~" P--
vgs s

Fig 4. A tradtionally de
nnea -e-I I

nicians increase the slip percentage so that

mismatched speeds can be overcome. The
annealing zones are designed to reach the
annealing temperature of 450°C. This
design creates the problem of annealing
grounding when copper fines generate a
conductive path, which causes grounding,
i.e., electrical current flows to ground.
Therefore, the wire will not be annealed
properly.
The optimum annealer design will have
the annealer capstan and contact rings dri-
ven by separate motors. It should also
include a PLC system to sense wire tension
and synchronize the multi-wire velocity
with respect to the finish capstan wire veloc-
ity. This can be achieved by using a form of
dancer/accumulator to synchronize and
accumulate the wire between the,capstan
and annealer rings. Such a system mini-
nizes slip and reduces sparking due to slack
drawing technology has grown incredibly. 2. M. J. McNulty, "Multi-Wire Technolo-
in the wire. In addition, the lifetime of
Some of the major wire equipment manu- gy: The Advantage and the Challenge,"
annealer sheaves (contact rings) is improved
facturers are no longer in existence, but in WireAssociationIntemational, 63rdAnnual
substantially and inclusions from the anneal-
past years as well as now, those that survive Interwire Conference Proceedings, 1993.
er are reduced. The reduction of downtime
do so by offering the latest wiredrawing 3. G; M. Meseha, "Mechanics of Copper
and increased life of the contact rings repre-
technology. Such systems are characterized Wire Drawing Made Simple," Wire Associ-
sent a large cost savings.
by:superior product quality and ation Joint Conference Proceedings, Non-
Adjustment of the annealing coolant col-
consistency, higher output, and different Ferrous and Electrical Divisions, Toronto,
umn is essential to maintain a uniform wire
sizes of products from the same machine Ontario, May, 1976. M
temperature coining out of the machine.
As can be seen, there is a difference
This is a problem in some machines because
between reduced and true non-slip design
the air-wiping system is marginal, and there-
of wiredrawing machines. Similar differ-
fore there is a fluctuation in the column
ences exist between modern annealer
height and accordingly the rate of cooling.
designs. The wiredrawing process engineer
Some systems consume excessive com-
must keep abreast of the latest advance-
pressed air to provide this wiping, which is
ments to ensure selection of the best tech-
again a major cost item that must be taken
nology for productivity and quality.
into consideration in the machine selection
criteria.
References:
Conclusion 1. B. Avitzur, M. Simchon and J. Shi,
"Wet Fine Wiredrawing with Slip," Wire
Over the author's 40 years of experience
Association Intemational 63rdAnnual Inter-
in the rod, wire and cable industry, wire-
wire Conference Proceedings, 1993.

JUNE 2005 59
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TITLE: Recent advances in wiredrawing machine design and

manufacturing
SOURCE: Wire J Int 38 no6 Je 2005
WN: 0515200109007

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