What Is Deformed Wire?
Deformed wire is a versatile medium-sized wire, processed into various cross-sectional shapes beyond the standard round, hexagonal, square, and rectangular forms.
Offering significant cost savings over traditional cutting, grinding, and sheet metal processing, deformed wire can be manufactured through cold drawing or cold rolling. Its benefits include weight reduction, yield improvement, process simplification, enhanced accuracy, and a smoother metal surface.
Deformed wire springs exhibit superior spring properties when their cross-section is altered. Through quenching and tempering, they gain excellent straightness, an expanded elastic limit, and a high yield point, leading to enhanced durability. Deformed wire materials encompass a range of options, including carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, copper and copper alloys, and titanium and titanium alloys.
Uses of Deformed Wire
Deformed wire finds application across a broad spectrum, from mechanical components like split pins and springs to ski edges, necklaces, electric heating wires for carpets, wristwatch bands, eyeglass frames, guitar fret wires, and model rails. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in automotive piston ring and transmission parts, various industrial machinery, and the oil, gas, mining, water, paper, and pulp industries, as well as wire rope for forestry and cranes.
Deformed wire is utilized in home appliances, office automation equipment, automobile clutches, brakes, wiper arms, cigarette lighters, and bicycle brakes, typically as springs. A deformed cross-sectional shape can achieve a higher load capacity and longer service life compared to traditional round springs, allowing for more compact and lightweight designs with the same torque.
Principle of Deformed Wire
Deformed wires, with their varied cross sections, are produced by cold drawing or cold rolling coils, typically of circular cross-section materials. The material undergoes surface treatment, stretching through a die, re-coiling, and, if necessary, annealing. Specifically for spring materials, deformed wires are quenched and tempered.
For instance, the durability of a torsion spring made from circular wire can be about twice that of a deformed wire with the same outside diameter and coil number. Similarly, with equal coil turns and free length, the durability can increase sixfold.
Various surface treatments, such as zinc or zinc-aluminum alloy coating, enhance corrosion resistance and aesthetic appeal. Resin coatings for color identification and coloration of stainless steel are also common.
Types of Deformed Wire
Deformed wire is available in an array of materials, including iron wire, steel wire, piano wire, stainless steel wire, aluminum wire, phosphor bronze wire, brass wire, copper wire, special steel, and nickel silver. Iron wire categories include annealed, carbon steel for cold heading, galvanized, and zinc-aluminum plated.
The hardness levels range from HRC40-50 for piano wire, HRC35-45 for hard steel wire, HRC45-52 for oil tempered wire, HRC95-105 for dull wire, to HRC35-45 for stainless steel wire.
Deformed wire packaging options include coils, reel-less coils, carriers, and reels. The cross-sectional shapes encompass flat, square, half-round, trapezoidal, triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, oval, diamond-shaped, tapered, talc-shaped, convex-shaped, spectacle, half-round spectacle, and round buckled trapezoidal wires.
How to Select Deformed Wire
Deformed wire, with its unique functionality, facilitates achieving a product state close to the final desired outcome, simplifying manufacturing processes by negating the need for additional surface processing and reducing costs.
Modifying the properties of each base material type ensures suitability for specific applications. In low-carbon steels, hardened rolling and tempering aid forming and post-processing. For high-carbon and alloy steels, oil tempering and induction hardening homogenize the steel microstructure, improving tensile strength and fatigue properties. Stainless steels benefit from hardened rolling and tempering as well.