Effect of drawing speed on the deformation characteristics, microstructure and properties of copper wire rod

Currently, copper-based wire has been extensively applied in the information industry and for signal transmission due to its excellent performance in practice. Drawing speed, as a key parameter of the drawing process, has a significant impact on the production and quality of the wire. In this study, both simulation and experiment are performed to explore the evolution of deformation and damage behavior of copper wire and its microstructural properties during the process of multi-pass continuous drawing, with the drawing speed set to the range from 60 to 300 m/min. This provides guidance on the production and process optimization of the wire. It is revealed in the study that the surface of the pure copper wire is deformed more significantly than the core region, and that there is a rise in the equivalent strain and damage occurring at different locations in the longitudinal section of the wire as the number of passes increases. With the drawing speed increasing, the strain and damage occurring in the core region are reduced, while the damage caused by severe deformation on the surface shows nonlinearity. When the drawing speed increases, there is a significant improvement in the strength of the dominant texture component <101> in the copper wire, and the grain size of the wire is significantly refined. In the meantime, there is an increase in the density of dislocation within the wire. The severity of distortion caused to the grain tends to decrease, and the grain boundary is gradually blurred. By increasing the drawing speed, the surface quality of the wire is improved. Apart from that, there is a slight increase in the tensile strength, DC resistance and electrical resistivity of the copper wire, despite a decline in the conductivity of the wire.