Wire drawing lubricant powder appears everywhere and plays a very important role. Bad wire drawing powder will reduce the quality of the product and even have a bad effect on the machine. Therefore, study wire drawing lubricant powder is the prerequisite for correct processing.

INSTRUCTION

Wire drawing lubricant powder is usually called wire drawing powder, and lubricating powder. It can be roughly divided into two categories: sodium soap powder and calcium soap powder.

Sodium soap powder is obtained by saponification of fatty acid and alkali, while calcium soap powder is obtained by saponification of fatty acid (grease) and lime.

According to the different wire-drawing processes, customers have to choose wire-drawing powder with different oil content to meet the demand. In wire drawing lubricants, oil content for a large proportion of raw materials. For this reason, the higher the oil content of wire drawing powder (drawing powder), the higher the unit price.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUNCTIONS:

Its main ingredients are lime, water, tallow, paraffin, soap, stearic acid, talc, and alkali.

Its main function is to form a layer of lubricating film between the metal being drawn and the wall of the wire drawing die. It will reduce the friction between the interfaces and reduce the power consumption during drawing to prevent the occurrence of metal on the die wall due to heat generation.

The second function is to make the drawing after drawing according to the requirements of the metal wire product. The steel wire has some characteristics suitable for subsequent processing.

(1)the thickness of the residual lubricating film. （2） whether it is easy to clean. （3）whether it can prevent rust. (4)the ability to combine with other media, and the performance of soldering.

The Wire drawing powder should generally have the following advantages:

• It can be firmly adsorbed on the surface of the steel wire and enter the drawing die with the steel wire, effectively separating the two interfaces of the deformation zone.
• Resistance to high pressure and high temperature. Under the conditions of high pressure and temperature rise generated during drawing. The lubricating film can still maintain its continuity and lubricity without being damaged, coking, agglomerating, or deteriorating. That means it has physical and chemical properties at the same time.
• It has good extensibility and lubricity. It can not only be firmly adsorbed on the surface of the steel wire but also can be extended and deformed with the steel wire. The lubricating film has a layered structure, and the molecular bonding force in each layer is strong.
• The components that make up the lubricant will not chemically react with the steel wire matrix to form compounds that affect the performance of the steel wire. So it would like to make corrosion to the steel wire and be easy to remove.
•  It does not pollute the environment. It is harmless to the human body, is rich in resources, is low in cost, and is easy to preserve.

WORK THEORY: FRICATION & LUBRICATION

FRICATION:

During the drawing process, the wire material is directly related to the wire drawing die, which inevitably generates friction. Reducing friction is the most effective way to improve drawing efficiency.

The magnitude of friction depends on 3 elements: normal pressure, coefficient of friction, and contact area. Changing the state of friction is the key measure to reduce friction.

According to friction theory, there are four states of sliding friction:

(1)dry friction (the friction coefficient in the dry friction state is as high as 0.7-1.0)
(2)boundary lubrication friction (the friction coefficient is about 0.10-0.30)
(3)mixed lubrication friction (the friction coefficient is about 0.005-0.10 )
(4)hydrodynamic lubrication friction (friction coefficient up to 0.001 ~ 0.005)

LUBRICATION

It has a great impact on the quality of steel wire products, and it is very important to do a good job of lubrication in wire drawing production.

Wire drawing lubrication methods can be divided into two types: dry lubrication and wet lubrication. Meanwhile, wet lubrication is divided into two types: oily lubrication and water-based lubrication. Arranged by the cooling effect, water-based lubrication is better than oil-based lubrication, and wet lubrication is better than dry lubrication.

• Dry powder lubrication

Dry lubrication usually uses dry powdered soap lubricants. The main components of dry powder lubricants are compounds of fatty acids and alkali metals, namely metal soaps.

Adding an appropriate amount of adhesion additives (borax, sodium sulfate, phosphate, etc.) to the lubricant can also effectively increase the thickness of the lubricating film. Dry powder lubricants sometimes contain a certain amount of layered inorganic substances.

• Oily lubrication

Oil-based lubricants are usually composed of many mineral oil, animal and vegetable oils, synthetic oils, oiliness improvers, extreme pressure additives, viscosity improvers, antioxidants, rust inhibitors, and defoamers.

• Water-based lubrication

Water-based lubricants can be divided into emulsions and soap solutions.

The emulsion is an oil-in-water emulsion composed of oil in water, usually composed of mineral oil, oily additives, emulsifiers, preservatives, antioxidants, etc.

The soap solution is composed of water-soluble alkali metal soap (potassium soap, sodium soap), adding preservatives and defoamers.

THE END SUMMARY

The role of lubricants in wire drawing cannot be underestimated as they are key to producing high-quality wire products. Therefore, work must continue on the fundamental aspects of lubrication to improve performance. The future will see the development of new lubricants based on polymeric materials and improved modes of lubricant application. In addition, radical changes in the drawing process require new aggressive lubricants to keep up with these advances.