Influence of a cold deformation process by drawing on the electrical properties of copper wires

Abstract This article presents a study of the drawing, deformation, hardening and heat treatment of copper wire, in order to investigate the influence of combinations of operating variables (annealing factor, oil emulsion temperature and machine speed) during the drawing process on the electrical conductivity of copper wires. The results showed that when the metal is deformed, the value of electrical conductivity suffers a decrease due to the hardening phenomenon. Because of this, it is necessary to heat treat the material. So, it was observed that the annealing factor, which is associated with the thermal treatment temperature, showed a high degree of correlation with the electrical conductivity. This fact is explained by the annealing factor which is responsible for the intensity of the heat treatment. The speed at which the drawing occurs also showed a direct correlation with electric conductivity because the higher the value, the greater the heat treatment temperature and consequently, the greater the electrical conductivity of the material. On the other hand, it had not been possible to establish a conclusion about the correlation between the electrical conductivity and oil emulsion temperature during the drawing process.