Reduction of tensile residual stresses during the drawing process of tungsten wires

Tungsten wires are commonly used in the lighting industry as filaments for lamps. During the drawing process, the inhomogeneous deformation imparted by the drawing die causes tensile residual stresses at the wire surface in circumferential direction. These stresses have a detrimental effect for the wire because they are responsible for driving longitudinal cracks, known as splits. This work proposes two methods for reducing the residual stresses during wire drawing, namely applying an advanced die geometry and performing an inexpensive post-drawing treatment based on targeted bending operations. These two methods are analyzed with finite element simulations using material parameters obtained by mechanical tests on tungsten wires at different temperatures as input data. The computed results predict a substantial reduction of the circumferential residual stresses, thus reducing the risk of splitting.