EFFECT OF REDUCTION IN AREA IN WIRE DRAWING PROCESS TO MICRO STRUCTURE AND HARDNESS OF COPPER ALLOY WIRE

摘要

Metal forming processes in the manufacturing field can be conducted by utilizing plastic deformation. In cold working process, forming is carried out at a temperature below the recrystallization temperature. Cold wire drawing is one of cold working processes. This current research is conducted to find out the micro structure change of material after wire drawing process and to investigate the effect of percentage reduction in area of wire to material's hardness. The experimental test specimen is a copper alloy wire. The copper alloy is widely used for power cables, roofing, piping and industrial machinery. This metal is drawn through inlet angles of 8° with various inlet diameters of 2.8, 2.4, and 2.2 mm respectively and outlet diameters of 2.4, 2.2, and 2.0 respectively. The grain shape and the hardness of copper alloy are investigated before and after wire drawing process. The experimental results after wire drawing process show that the grain shape was flatter than before wire drawing process. The result also shows that the greater the percentage reduction in area of the wire the higher the hardness of the material.