Description

Significant efforts have been made in recent years by the wiredrawing industry to convert high-volume applications in automotive, magnet, and shielding wire from copper to aluminum. This has led to efforts by equipment manufacturers to develop the technique of drawing aluminum on multi-wire machines. First, developments were started with the use of lower-viscosity, high-lubricity drawing oils. While this was an improvement over the high-viscosity standard products, eventually this led to the development of water-miscible lubricants which provide the required performance and are safe in use. Both EC grade aluminum and aluminum alloys can be processed form rod breakdown through multi-wire applications using the newly developed water-miscible lubricants.