Description
Examination of wire breaks in superfine gold wire drawn with conventional methods and conditions indicates breaks are mainly caused by inclusions, most of which have particle sizes of approximately 25 µm in diameter. It became clear in finite element analysis (FEA) that breaks occur easily if the diameter of inclusions and drawn wire exceeds a critical value. When inclusions were suppressed and reduction per pass during continuous drawing was decreased, the average length of wire just before breakage was considerably increased.
