Drawing

Drawing
 Drawing is an operation in which the cross-sectional area of a bar or tube is reduced or changed in
shape by pulling it through a converging die (dies are usually tapered).
 The drawing process is somewhat similar to extrusion, except that in drawing, the bar is under
tension, whereas in extrusion it is under compression.
 Although drawing applies tensile stress, compression also plays a significant role since metal is
squeezed as it passes through die opening.
 Wire diameter may be as small as 0.025 mm.
 .Bar wire and tube drawing are usually carried out at room temperature, except for large deformation,
which leads to considerable rise in temperature during drawing.
 It can be argued, at least in principle, that some of the objectives of drawing could be achieved by

simply stretching the wire with a pulling force.

 The cross section could be reduced and elongation accomplished, but dies would not be needed and

the friction and metal flow issues presented by die could be a voided.

 The principle problem with just stretching the wire with a pulling force is the necking phenomena.

Basically, after a certain amount of uniform stretching, all further elongation will be concentrated at a
single location ( a neck), which will rapidly thin and break.

 This occurs because the decrease in cross-sectional area eventually weakens wire more than any

strengthening that occurs by work hardening.

 Drawing

Wire drawing Bar drawing

Wire products
 Wire Drawing
 Wire drawing involves stock that can be easily coiled and subjected to sequential or tandem drawing operations with as

many as a dozen or more draws occurring with a given drawing machine.

 Each drawing operation or “pass” will involve delivery of the wire to the die from a coil on capstan OR drum, passage

through the die, and take-up on a capstan that pulls the wire through the die

 Continuous drawing machines consisting of multiple draw dies (typically 4 to 12) separated by accumulating drums

 Each drum (capstan) provides proper force to draw wire stock through upstream die

 Each die provides a small reduction, so desired total reduction is achieved by the series of dies.
Wire Drawing
 Tube Drawing
 Tubes produced by extrusion or other process (such as shape rolling)
 Also tubes can be reduced in thickness or diameter by tube drawing.
 The shape of tubes can be changed by using dies and mandrels with various profiles
 Tube drawing is also similar to wire drawing, except that a mandrel of appropriate diameter is
required to form the internal hole.
 Tubes are cold drawn using dies, plugs or mandrels to the required shape, size, tolerances and
mechanical strength.
 Provides good surface finishes.
 Increase mechanical properties by strain hardening.
 can produce tubes with thinner walls or smaller diameters than can be obtained from other hot
forming methods.
 can produce more irregular shapes.
 Tube drawing
 Types of tube drawing methods
a) Tube drawing without mandrel
(Sinking).
b) Tube drawing with a fixed
mandrel.
c) Tube drawing with a floating
mandrel.
d) Tube drawing with a moving
mandrel.
Tube drawing without mandrel (Sinking).
 The tube, while passing through the die, shrinks in outer radius from the original radius to a final

radius.

 No internal tooling (internal wall is not supported), the wall then thicken slightly. Uneven internal

surface.

 The final thickness of the tube depends on original diameter of the tube, the die diameter and

friction between tube and die.

• Lower limiting deformation.

 Tube drawing with a fixed mandrel.
 This is the oldest tube drawing method.

 Fixed plug drawing, also known as stationary mandrel drawing, uses a mandrel at the end of the die

to shape the inner diameter of the tube.

 This process is slow and the area reductions are limited (lengths of tubes are limited), but it gives

the best inner surface finish of any of the processes.

 Process with cylindrical/conical mandrel
 Use cylindrical / conical plug to control size/shape of inside diameter.

 Use higher drawing loads than floating plug drawing.

 Greater dimensional accuracy than tube sinking.

 Increased friction from the plug limit the reduction in area (seldom > 30%).
 Floating plug drawing
 Floating plug drawing, also known as floating mandrel drawing, uses a mandrel that is not anchored

whatsoever to shape the inner diameter of the tube.

 The mandrel is held in by the friction forces between the mandrel and the tube.

 The greatest advantage of this that it can be used on extremely long lengths, sometimes up to 1,000

feet (300 m).

 The disadvantage is it requires a precise design otherwise it will give inadequate results. This

process is often used for oil- tubing.

Floating plug drawing
 Drawing with moving mandrel
 Draw force is transmitted to the metal by the pull on the exit section and by the friction

forces acting along the tube - mandrel interface.

 Minimised friction.

 Vmandrel = Vtube

 The mandrel also imparts a smooth inside finish surface of the tube.

 Mandrel removal disturbs dimensional tolerance.

 Drawing with moving mandrel
 Also known as semi-floating mandrel drawing, is a mix between floating plug drawing and fixed

plug drawing. The mandrel is allowed to float at the end of tube, but it still anchored.

 This process gives similar results to the floating plug process, except that it is designed for

multiple diameter of straight tubes. It gives a better inner surface finish than rod drawing.
 Process Parameters
The major processing variables in drawing are

Die angle:
• For small die angles, the length of contact between the wire and the die is more and as such frictional work
will be more.

• For large die angles, redundant work increases resulting in the internal distortion of the work leads to surface
defects in the drawn product.

• Hence optimum die angle must be selected which minimizes both frictional and redundant work.

Friction:
• In drawing, friction exists between the work and the die surface. Friction will be more for low die angles and
reduces as the die angle is increased up to an optimum value.

• Efficient lubrication between work surfaces can reduce the friction between them.
Reduction in cross-sectional area:
• In drawing maximum reduction in cross sectional area per pass takes place at a point when the draw
stress is equal to the yield strength of the work material.

• With small die angles, the drawing stress is high because of high frictional losses. Hence in order to
avoid failure of the work material, the draw force has to be reduced, which in turn reduces the reduction
area per pass.

Temperature:
• In drawing, when the wire is drawn through the die, heat is generated primarily by work deformation and
also sliding friction at the die surface. This causes the die to expand thermally.

• Thermal expansion of die components results in small clearances between working die surfaces, which can
cause the work metal to be ironed to the die. This can be reduced with proper lubrication.

Drawing speed:
• A faster speed creates more sliding friction, more the friction more is heat generated as a result stress and
strain generated increases.

• The speed of drawing is hence limited and is selected on the type of material drawn and its diameter.