THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIGH SPEED MULTIPASS DRAWING PROCESS ON THE FATIGUE STRENGTH OF HIGH CARBON STEEL WIRES

In this work the influence of the drawing speed on fatigue strength of high carbon steel wires has been assessed. The drawing process of phi 5.5 mm wires to the final wire of phi 1.6 mm was conducted in 11 passes, in industrial conditions, by means of a modern Koch multi-die drawing machine. The drawing speeds in the last passes were: 5, 10, 15 and 20 m/s. For phi 1.6 mm wires the investigation of fatigue strength has been carried out. In order to explain the effect of drawing speed on fatigue strength of rope wires, the roughness of drawn wires have been also determined. In addition, the numerical analysis of the drawing process on the base of Drawing 2D in which distribution of redundant strain, has been shown. The data of investigations prove the favourable effect of high drawing speed on fatigue strength of drawn wires. It was found that the better fatigue strength of wires drawn at the speed of 20 m/s compared to the wires drawn at the speeds of 5-15 m/s is associated with a better geometric structure of the surface of those wires. In addition to the high fatigue strength of the wires drawn with high speed is related to theirs higher redundant strain. The obtained data investigation can be applied in wire industry while implementing the new technologies of high speed drawing process of high carbon steel wires.