- Round wires are deformed to flat wires or special shapes
- Processes: cold (or hot) rolling or cold drawing (profiled die drawing), Flat wire rolling is achieved by feeding wire through two rollers.
Special shapes can be produced by feeding wire through 4 rollers, so-called Turks Heads, or by drawing the wire through special shaped profile dies.
Flat wires or special shapes are made for specific applications such as wiper arms and blades, spring wires or wire for offshore applications.
Cold rolling
Cold Rolling is carried out at ambient temperatures and there are limits to the amount of work that can be done at each stage of the process.
- Increased tensile, yield and hardness values by as much as 50% over hot rolling or machining. Cold rolling refines the grain structure of the material, which makes it harder and stronger.
- Excellent surface finish. Surface quality allows plating or painting with minimal surface preparation.
- Significant cost savings over machining. Processing is reduced while minimizing scrap.
Hot Rolling
In Hot Rolling the temperature of the steel is selected to achieve the optimum formability of the steel.
Cold drawing
A number of draw passes through successive dies may be required, depending on the complexity of the specified shape. Each pass further shapes and reduces the profile’s size until it reaches the final cross section.
- Closer tolerances than are obtainable from other cold-forming processes.
- Sharp corners can be achieved
- Extremely complex and asymmetrical profiles. Virtually any profile is possible because dies can be produced in an infinite number of shapes.
- Significant cost savings over machining. Processing is faster with minimal scrap.
Download our brochure to know more about Bekaert’s tailor-made flat and shaped wires.