Wire Drawing

All the wires that is available is produced by cold drawing through dies.
It is a metalworking process used to reduce the cross-section of a wire by pulling
the wire through a single, or series of, drawing die(s).

In drawing the wire is pulled, rather than pushed, through the die.
This process requires very large forces in order to pull the metal through the die.
Drawing is usually performed at room temperature, thus classified as a cold
working process, but it may be performed at elevated temperatures for large wires
to reduce forces.
To reduce the frictional force between the die and the metal the die is kept well
1
lubricated

The process of producing the wires of different diameters is accomplished by

pulling a wire through a hardened die usually made up carbide.
The larger diameter oriented wire is first cleaned, pickled (H2SO4), washed, coated
with lime and then lubricated.
Cleaning is essentially done to remove any scale and rust present on the surface,
which may severely affect the die.
To make for an easier entrance of wire into the die, the end of the stock is made
pointed by hammering to facilitate the entry.
A pointed or reduced diameter at the end of wire duly lubricated is pushed or
introduced through the die which is water cooled also.
It is then gripped and pulled for attaching it to a power driven reel then wire
diameter is reduced in die because of the ductility property.
For more reduction in diameter of the wire, various sets of dies can be used in line
for subsequent reduction in diameter at each stage
2

The reduction in each pass through the die range about 10% for steel and 40% for
ductile materials such as copper.
Dies are severely affected because of high stresses and abrasion.
Die materials are chilled cast iron, tool steels, tungsten carbide & diamond.
The cast iron dies are used for small runs.
For very large sizes, alloy steels are used in making the dies.
The tungsten carbide dies are used for medium size wires and large productions.
Smaller diameter wires are drawn through a die made of diamond.

Extrusion
It is the process of enclosing the heated billet or slug of metal in a closed cavity
and then pushing it to flow from only one die opening so that the metal will take
the shape of the opening.
Extrusion process is identical to the
squeezing of tooth paste out of the tooth
paste tube.
The cross-sections that can be produced
vary from solid round, rectangular, to L
shapes, T shapes.
Extrusion
may
be
continuous
(theoretically producing indefinitely long
material) or semi-continuous (producing
many pieces). Extrusions can be done with
the material hot or cold.
Commonly extruded materials include
metals, polymers, ceramics, and foodstuffs.
5

Hot extrusion is done at an elevated temperature to keep the material from work
hardening and to make it easier to push the material through the die.
The extrusion setup consists of a cylinder container into which the heated billet or
slug of metal is loaded.

On one end of the

container, the die plate with
the necessary opening is
fixed.

From the other end, a plunger or ram with help of dummy block compresses the
metal billet against the container walls and the die plate, thus forcing it to flow
through the die opening, acquiring the shape of the opening.
The extruded metal is then carried by the metal handling system as it comes out
of the die.
6

Direct or Forward Extrusion

The heated metal billet is placed in to the

die chamber and the pressure is applied
through ram
The metal is extruded through die
opening in the forward direction, i.e. the
same as that of the ram
In this case, the problem of friction is
prevalent because of the relative motion
between the heated metal billet and the
cylinder walls
To reduce such friction, at lower
temperatures, a mixture of oil and
graphite is generally used as a lubricant.

Indirect Backward Extrusion

In indirect extrusion, the billet

remains stationary while the die
moves into the billet by the
hollow ram (or punch), through
which the backward extrusion
take place.

Since, there is no friction force

between the billet and the
container wall, therefore, less
force is required by this method

This process is not widely used

because of the difficulty occurred
in providing support for the
extruded part

Tube Extrusion

This process is an extension of direct extrusion process where additional mandrel

is needed to restrict flow of metal for production of seamless tubes.

Cold Extrusion
It is performed at temperatures significantly
below the melting temperature of the alloy
being deformed, and generally at room
temperature.

The process can be used for most materials,

provided that sufficiently robust machinery
can be designed.

Products of cold extrusion include aluminium

cans, collapsible tubes and gear blanks.

Shearing operations
Blanking
Punching
Piercing
Trimming

10

Shearing

It is separation of metal by two blades

In shearing a narrow strip of metal is severely plastically deformed

to the point where it fracture at the surface in contact with the
blades

The fracture then propagate inward to provide complete separation

The depth through which the punch must penetrate depends on the
ductility of the metal

Insufficient clearance distortion of edges and power required is

high

11

Blankin
g
A typical die and punch set used for
blanking operation
The sheet metal used is called strip or
stock.
The punch which is held in the punch
holder is bolted to the press ram while
die is bolted on the press table.
During the working stroke, the punch
penetrates the strip, and on the return
stroke of the press ram the strip is lifted
with the punch, but it is removed from the
punch by the stripper plate
The clearance angle provided on the die
depends on the material of stock, as well
as its thickness.
For thicker and softer materials generally higher angular clearance is given. In
most cases, 2 degree of angular clearance is sufficient.
12

Punching and piercing

It is a process by which a hole is cut (or

torn) in metal. It is different from punching
It is the operation of producing
piercing does not generate a slug. Instead,
circular holes on a sheet metalthe metal is pushed back to form a jagged
by a punch and die.
flange on the back side of the hole.
A pierced hole looks somewhat like a
bullet hole in a sheet of metal.

Piercing operations are frequently (but not

always)defined as forming a hole in
sheetmetal with a pointed punch with no
metal fallout (slug). In this case, a
significant burr or deformed sharp edge is
created on the bottom side of the material
being pierced. This is not to say the
punched material will not have a burr, but
the pierced holes will have a significantly
more pronounced burr
13

Trimming
When parts are produced by die casting or
drop forging, a small amount of extra metal
gets spread out at the parting plane.
This extra metal, called flash, is cut off before
the part is used, by an operation called
trimming.
The operation is very similar to blanking and
the dies used are also similar to blanking dies.
The presses used for trimming have, however,
relatively larger table.
14

Stretch forming

In this forming tensile force is applied on the

metal which is placed over the die

Due to tensile stress large deformation for ductile

metal can be achieved only by this process

Sheet is first wrapped around the block and the

tensile load is increased through jaws until sheet
is plastically deformed to final shape

Spring back effect is eliminated

Used in air craft industries for producing larger

curvature

15

Bending
It is a operation by which straight length is converted
to curved like drums,channels.
As a sheet metal is bent its fibres experience a
distortion such that those nearer its outside, convex
surface are forced to stretch and come in tension,
while the inner fibres come in compression.
Somewhere, in the cross section, there is a plane
which separates the tension and compression zones.
This plane is parallel to the surface around which the
sheet is bending, and is called neutral axis.

The position of neutral axis depends on the radius and angle of bend
The bend radius can not be made smaller than certain value. The minimum bend
radius is expressed as 3T,5T etc.
16

Embossing

Embossing is an operation in which sheet

metal is drawn to shallow depths with male
and female matching dies.

The operation is carried out mostly for the

purpose of stiffening flat panels.

The operation is also sometimes used for

making decoration items like number plates
or name plates, jewellery, etc.

17

Coining

Coining is a severe metal squeezing operation in which the flow of metal occurs
only at the top layers of the material and not throughout the values.
It is mainly used for production of important articles such as medals, coins, tickers
and other similar articles, which possess shallow configurations on their surfaces.
The blank is kept in the die cavity and pressures as high as five to six times the
strength of material are applied

The difference between coining and

embossing is that the same design is created
on both sides of the work piece in embossing
(one side depressed and the other raised)
whereas in coining operation, a different
design is created on each side of work piece.
Force required for coining process is more
than embossing process

18

Drawing

It is a process of making cups, shells an similar articles from metal blank

Shaping of materials where the heated or normal blank is placed over the die
opening the punch forces the blank through the die opening to form a cup or shell.
The multiple dies are also used to accomplish the stages in drawing process.
Kitchen utensils and components of food processing industries are manufactured
by this process.

19