Energy consumption analysis of multistage steel wire drawing

The paper analyzes energy consumption during steel wire drawing for pass schedules with different number of passes. The authors compare wire drawing pass schedules that have different number of passes and the same total reduction. Dependences of the wire drawing process para­meters on the number of passes were calculated. The methods for calculating the uniform and redundant deformation work, the friction forces work during wire drawing in monolithic dies are presented. The authors obtained the dependences of uniform and redundant deformation work, as well as the friction forces work and total work on the passes number of the pass schedule. A significant proportion of energy consumption is due to redundant work. Such wire drawing deformation measures as reduction and elongation do not consider redundant deformation. The redundant deformation work depends on the shape of the deformation zone characterized by the ∆-factor, which is equal to the ratio of the average height to the average length of the deformation zone. It was established that energy consumption calculations for wire drawing without taking into account redundant deformation lead to energy consumption underestimation. The paper provides criteria for selecting the number of passes, taking into account the energy consumption for wire deformation during wire drawing. It was determined that an increase in multistage wire drawing number of passes with the initial and final wire diameters equal leads to an increase in energy consumption for wire deformation and friction on the wire-die contact surface. The redundant deformation share in the increase in energy consumption for wire drawing was 68 %, the friction forces share was 32 %. The authors provide recommendations for choosing the optimal pass schedule based on the results obtained.