Cairo University

Faculty of Engineering
Mining, Petroleum and Metallurgy Department
4th Year Metallurgy

Plastic Metal Forming of

Metals and
Powders
LECTURE 2
By Dr. Ahmed Hatem Al-Khoribi
• Drawing
• The process of pulling material through a die
where the material experiences high
compressive forces.

• It is similar to extrusion except work is pulled

through the die opening in drawing while it is
pushed through the die opening in extrusion.
• Although drawing applies tensile stress,
compressive stresses play a significant role
since metal is squeezed as it passes through the
die opening.

• It is used to produce long parts of uniform

cross-sections. Starting work is usually a round
billet which may be formed into a round part of
smaller diameter, a hollow tube, or some other
profile.
• Drawing is used to produce bars, rods, and
wires products. The goal is to reduce the cross-
section of the work piece.

Figure shows the usage of drawing in

producing solid products.
• Products made by drawing include:

1. Wire drawing: electrical wires, cables, paper

clips, fences, and shopping carts.
2. Rod drawing: nails, screws, bolts, springs, coat
hangers, and structural members.
3. Bar drawing: metal bars for machining,
forging, and other processes.
• Note: Difference between wire drawing, rod
drawing, and bar drawing is product size.

• Wire drawing: small diameter products (wire

sizes down to 0.03 mm are possible).
• Rod drawing: intermediate diameter rod
products.
• Bar drawing: large diameter bar products.
• General advantages of drawing process:
1. Different types of shapes can be produced,
especially when annealed first.
2. Running costs are low.
3. Wide variety of materials can be formed such as
Steel, Cu, Al, Pb.
4. Amount of waste materials is small.
5. The friction of the drawing billet with the
container and die results in high compressive
stresses which are effective in reducing
cracking of materials that were initially received
as-cast.
6. In commercial industry, this process provides
stock material for machining operations and for
the manufacture of machined items as fences,
coat hangers, nails, screws and bolts.
• Metal extrusion can provide tremendous
reductions in cross-sectional area by pushing
the material through the mold. In metal
drawing the amount of cross-sectional
reduction is much more limited, by the fact
that the metal is pulled through the mold.
• Thus, in drawing, the material is subjected to
tensile force, i.e. crack can propagate if the
pulling force exceeds the yield strength of the
work leading to tensile yielding.
• As in extrusion, the greater the reduction in
cross-sectional area the greater the force
required to form the work. When the force
needed to pull a work piece through a mold
exceeds the yield strength of the work, it will
begin to yield. Yielding of the work in this
manner is not desirable in metal drawing
manufacture.
• In order to obtain greater reductions in cross-
sectional area, the work may be drawn
through two or more drawing die in series.
Thus, area reduction is partitioned.
• The metal drawing process is usually performed cold.
Cold working will provide the drawn product with
accurate tolerances, favorable grain structure,
improved material properties, and good surface finish.
• Sometimes, the work is prepared first before drawing.
• The main steps of preparation of the work are:
1. Annealing: to increase ductility of the work.
2. Cleaning by submersion in acidic solution: to prevent
damage of the work surface and drawing die.
3. Washing: to remove any solution.
4. Conditioning by applying chemical solutions
(conditioning agents) to the surface of the work: to
help the work surface hold the lubrication necessary
for the process.
5. Pointing at one end: to reduce diameter of the work
starting end to allow insertion through the die.
• Production Of Hollow Tubes
• Hollow profiles, particularly hollow round
tubes of different lengths, diameters, and wall
thicknesses, are common in drawing
production.
• Many tubes and special profiles are of larger
geometry and are drawn as a discrete
manufacturing operation.
• Production of drawn shapes and hollow tubes
is usually performed on a draw bench and
would be classified in the rod and bar category
of operations.
• When forming a tube a mandrel is usually
used. It is often required that hollow tubes
hold certain tolerances on internal diameter
and wall thickness. For that reason, mandrels
are often employed.
• Fixed mandrels are anchored on one side.
Floating mandrels are not anchored and are
designed to fit in place. Floating mandrels may
allow for the production of longer lengths of
tube.
Figure shows tube drawing Figure shows tube drawing using
using fixed (stationary) mandrel. floating (moving) mandrel.
• Flow Stress
• For most metals at room temperature, the stress-
strain curve shows that as the metal is deformed,
its strength increases due to the effect of strain
hardening. Thus, the stress required to continue
deformation must be increased to match this
increase in strength.
• Flow stress is defined as the instantaneous value
of stress needed to deform the material
plastically in a continuous manner, i.e. to keep
the metal flowing.
• It is the yield strength of the metal as a function
of true strain and can be expressed as:
Yf = K n.
• The flow stress is a function of plastic true strain.
• Average flow stress (also called the mean flow stress) is
the average value of stress over the stress-strain curve
from the beginning of strain to the final (maximum)
value that occurs during deformation.
• The average flow stress is determined by integrating
the flow curve equation (Yf = K n ) between zero and
the final strain value defining the range of interest.
This yields the equation:
Y̅f = K maxn /(1 + n).
Where
Y̅f = average flow stress in MPa.
max = maximum strain value during the deformation
process.
n = strain hardening exponent.
• The figure below shows flow and average flow
stresses on a true stress-strain curve.
• General formulas of drawing process:

1. Drawing Force = F = Y̅f Af ln (Ao/Af).

Where
Y̅f = average flow stress in MPa.
Ao = initial cross-sectional area of the billet.
Af = final cross-sectional area of the product.
2. Draft = D = Do - Df . D > 1.
3. Reduction in Area = r = 1 - Af/Ao.
4. Drawing Stress = d = Y̅f ln (Ao/Af).
• Problem
• Rod stock is drawn through a drawing die. Starting diameter =
12 mm and final diameter = 8 mm. The metal has a strength
coefficient = 310 Mpa and strain hardening exponent = 0.22.
Determine:
a) area reduction.
b) drawing stress.
c) drawing force for the operation.
d) horsepower to perform the operation if the exit velocity of
the stock = 0.5 m/sec.
• Do = 12 mm, Df = 8 mm, K = 310 Mpa, and n =
0.22.
• Ao = (/4)*(Do)2 = (/4)*(12)2 = 113.1 mm2.
• Af = (/4)*(Df)2 = (/4)*(8)2 = 50.27 mm2.

a) area reduction = r = 1 - Af/Ao = 0.56.

b) max = ln (Ao/Af) = ln (113.1/50.27) = 0.811.
Y̅f = K maxn /(1 + n) =
310*(0.811)0.22/(1 + 0.22) = 242.65 MPa.
drawing stress = d = Y̅f ln (Ao/Af) =
242.65*0.811 = 196.8 MPa.
c) Drawing force = F = Y̅f Af ln (Ao/Af) =
d Af = 196.8*50.27 = 9893.14 N.
d) Power = P = F v = 9893.14*0.5 =
4946.57 N.m/s.
HP = 4946.57/746 = 6.631 hp.