Electroplastic Wire Drawing: A Promising Method of Production of Lightweight Wire and Cable

This paper presents the results of studies on the drawing of copper and steel wires by different technologies: conventional, warm (heated by alternating current), and electroplastic (under the action of pulsed current in the deformation zone) and an analysis of its structure and physicomechanical properties. As a result of the electroplastic drawing (EPD) of copper and steel wire, the drawing force is reduced by 30-35%, electrical resistance decreases by 18-20%, a more perfect axial texture arises, and the wire plasticity increases, compared with the warm drawing. In the steel wire the content of alpha-phase is drastically reduced, which is mainly emitted in the surface layer in a few microns.