Change in mechanical properties of fine copper wire manufactured by continuous rotary draw bending process

Abstract

The mechanical behaviors of Cu–Sn alloy wire specimens processed by the newly proposed method of rotary draw bending are systematically investigated, mainly by considering the relationship between the Vickers hardness (HV) on the cross section and the compressive residual energy during draw bending. It was found that during draw bending, the HV was lower than that of the specimen subjected to wire drawing, particularly on the inside of the bend, and it was confirmed that the softening induced by plastic deformation is promoted by increasing the compressive residual energy. The changes in HV and compressive residual energy were closely related. Consequently, there was a large difference in the hardness distributions on the inside and outside of the bend, and the mechanical properties of the wire specimen changed greatly during draw bending. Additionally, the change in the texture resulting from draw bending obtained by the finite element method (FEM) analysis of stress and the measured change in the texture showed good qualitative agreement.