The Effect of Drawing Speed on the Ageing of High-Carbon Steel Wire

The paper analyzes the effect of ageing on the variations in the mechanical and technological properties of steel wire. The process of drawing 5.5 mm-diameter wire rod into 1.70 mm wire was carried out in 12 draws on a Koch KGT multi-stage drawing machine in the drawing velocity range of 5-25 m/s. Finished 1.7 mm-diameter wires after, respectively, 1, 24, 720 and 8760 hours of the completion of the drawing process were subjected to testing to determine their mechanical and technological properties. The yield strength, YS; tensile strength, UTS; uniform elongation, A_r; total elongation, A_c; reduction of area, Z; number of twists, N_t; and the number of bends, N_b, have been determined. It has been demonstrated that variations in mechanical properties occur after the multi-stage drawing process due to ageing, with their degree and mode being dependent on the drawing speed.