How square wire is manufactured and what defects can arise during the process?
How
square wire is manufactured and what defects can arise during the process?
The
manufacturing of square wire begins when cast billet or cast round wire is
undergoes an annealing process and a specific rolling. This produces a top
quality square wire. As square wire is easily formed and very workable, these
are very useful in the manufacturing of handmade jewellery and ornaments. Square
wire that is manufactured by rolling process, offers a number of advantages
because of the quality to reduce further in size. Square wire can also be
reshaped to form round, d-shaped, oval, and can also be rolled to into plate
form.
Square wire used in the manufacturing of jewellery is made out of different alloys
Platinum, Gold, Palladium, and Silver. They are available in different stock
gauges of 6mm, 5mm, and 3mm with lengths of up to 600mm. Sharp edged square
wire is also available that are manufactured through draw plates. There are
some other rolled sizes of square wire available in sizes between 1.0mm to
12.0mm which are manufactured to order.
Manufacturing
process of square wire
Square
wire is manufactured by the hot-rolling or drawing metal through shafts. The
metal is then formed and compressed from various sides which further turn the
metal into a thin, long wire. The wire is then wound on a special winder
towards the end of the rolling mill that helps the rod to roll into skeins for
additional cooling. This method of production is known as hot rolling, though
the metal is not pre-heated. It is heated while it passes through the shafts. The
rod can be cooled after rolling through a couple of methods which include air and
accelerated cooling. Air cooling is the process where the metal is cooled-off
naturally whereas, accelerated cooling requires the use of special fans.
Comparatively, accelerated cooling is a much faster process. After the cooling
process, square wire is ready for storing.
Quality
requirements are imposed higher on square wire rods. For example, if the square
wire rods are used for further production, it needs to be burr and deformation
free. But if burrs and deformations are available in the square wire rods, they
can still be used for other purposes. If any bubbles or voids appear in the square
wire rod during the manufacturing process, the strength of the metal gets
significantly reduced. Apart from that, the quality of the material is also
affected adversely by decarburization, which occurs when the rod is heated.
There
are also a number of other mechanical defects that can affect the cost of the square
wire, while some of them make it unusable. Therefore, square wire production is
managed and controlled carefully, while the product goes through various
quality checks constantly at all manufacturing stages. Matta Drawing
manufactures and supplies the best-in-class square wire that can be used for
multiple purposes. The square wire provided by Matta Drawing
is cold-rolled and shaped for better close tolerances and fine surface finish.
Defects
that can arise during square wire manufacturing
While
rolling the square wire rod, steel is passed through multiple grooves in the
rolling mill after being heated above its re-crystallization temperature. Due
to that, a number of common defects can arise that can be seen with naked eyes
after etching. The defects produced during square wire manufacturing can lead
to rejection either at wire rod stage or during its further processing.
Therefore it is necessary to reduce the defects as much as possible, if not
eliminated. The common types of square wire rod defects that are majorly found
during the production are listed and described below.
Laps:
The discontinuities of the material at the surface that usually run more or
less at an angle are known as laps. They can be detected by double parallel
lines that longitudinally run along the rolling direction.
Fins:
Fins are lump like structures that occurs on both sides due to the section
being too large. In case the lump is occurred on one side, it is known as “off
the hole”. It is generally occurred due to the overfilling of the groove due to
which the rolls are not set properly or because of a larger reduction.
Cracks:
The material discontinuities that penetrate the square wire vertically or at an
angle are known as cracks. They normally vary in length and occasionally run at
an angle. The medium or large sized cracks can be easily detected with a naked
eye or with a slight magnification after the square wire is mechanically or
chemically de-scaled.
Roughness:
The irregular depressions, continuous recurring, and elevations occurring on
the surface of the square wire is referred to as roughness. It is often
mistaken as pitting. The roughness on the surface of a square wire can be
easily detected with naked eye or slight magnification. This is often caused
due to severe roll groove wear.
Conclusion
The
manufacturing process of a square wire needs to manage carefully or will lead
to slight or major defects to the product. Defective square wires are hard to
restore, therefore are left unused. Matta Drawing
is the best place for you, if you want to get hands on the best-in-class square
wire rods available online.
Publish Date : 22-11-2021