Evaluation of copper coating ratio in steel/copper clad wire drwaing

The objective of this study is to develop an optimal drawing process for clad wire. Steel wires with copper clad are widely used, e.g. in telecommunication, power engineering, electronics as a replacement of traditional applied copper wire. The reason is that the properties of these bimetal wires combine the good strength of steel with the good conductivity and corrosion resistance of copper. The main aspect of producing clad wires is to ensure the uniform thickness of the sleeves, i.e. the coating ratio. This study investigates the effect of the process variables such as semi-die angle and reduction in area on the maximum damage value and the coating ratio through FE-analysis. FE-analysis and an experiment verified that the final coating ratio depends on the initial coating ratio. To produce a clad wire with a single or variety of coating ratios, the wire with the required coating ratio should be produced in a continuous casting process.