Dies

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WIRE JOURNAL

I N T E R N A T I O N A L w w w. w i r e n e t . o r g

Dies OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL

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WIRE JOURNAL

®

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Volume 40 Number 5 May 2007

C ONTENTS 30

FEATURE

34 Dies Die suppliers discuss what they do to differentiate themselves in a sector that is essential to wiredrawing but regarded by many customers as a commodity.

Comments come from a total of 15 die suppliers as well as brief observations from two manufacturers and thoughts from a supplier of rotating die technology.

TECHNICAL

PAPERS

46 Tension straightening of a drawn superfine wire

51 Pickling acid management – more than just recovery

Kazunari Yoshida, Kyotaro Sato, Tsutomu Yamashita, Huroyuki Sato, Eiji Matsunaga and Daiki Kato— Controlling tension during the wiredrawing process was found to be effective in decreasing residual stress and improving straightness in superfine wire.

11

William Gower—A complete management approach to chemical acid pickling that addresses key variables can provide significant efficiencies and subsequent savings for pickling stainless steel wire.

57 FEM aided study on hydrostatic stress in drawing of high carbon steel wires Sten He, Paul Van Houtte, Jan W. Pilarczyk and Jaroslaw Markowski—The die angle was found to have a strong influence on the magnitude of hydrostatic stress, with a decreased die angle reducing stresses in the approach zone.

(continued)

Cover: A range of dies supplied by some of the companies that are included in the feature that begins on p. 34.

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12 Industry News General Cable enters two joint ventures in India, Lincoln Electric acquires Poland’s Sawmet, Nexans reports contracts, AMSC undergoes restructuring and more

DEPARTMENTS

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WIRE JOURNAL

®

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

6 Editorial

20 Asian Focus Niehoff GmbH discusses new manufacturing plant in India, China’s high-flying aerospace hopes and more

26 Fiber Watch Alcatel-Lucent awarded EASSy contract for East Africa, and more

8 Calendar 24 People 62 Products

28 Fastener Update Nifco to open fastener plant in Kentucky, and more

67 Media

30 WAI News El Paso workshop draws well, WAI’s India subsidiary launches publication, WireLink scholar named

32 Chapter News Italy Chapter to hold its first meeting in June, reminder for Midwest Chapter Golf Tourney

68 Classified 68 Career Opportunities 71 Advertisers’ Index

KYOCERA INDUSTRIAL CERAMICS CORP. will also be exhibiting with us in booth # 2626

4 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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WIRE JOURNAL

Editorial

INTERNATIONAL

Publisher Steven J. Fetteroll Editor-in-Chief Mark Marselli

Offshoring as an option, not an end plan

Senior Graphic Designer Bill Branch

Recent years have seen an abundance of headlines heralding the exodus of jobs and production to low-wage countries such as China and India, but that trend may be undergoing a shifting tide.

Jim Jubak, an MSN business commentator, recently observed that offshoring strategy may be changing. He suggests that rather than embracing it full-scale, more manufacturers are looking at selectively offshoring, retaining domestic production of certain products.

Headlines, especially from 2002 to 2004, left lasting impressions of offshoring as a dominating force, Jubak observed. Today, he said, there appears to be a deceleration in the rate at which jobs and work are being shipped abroad. He attributes this perception, which he acknowledges is largely based on anecdotal evidence, to “a crisis in global logistics, the systems that get stuff from here to there on time.” He described the realities of an overstressed global supply system. The more functions a company outsources, the harder it is to keep everything coordinated, and when the outsourcing is offshoring, the challenge can become even greater, he explained.

Jubak said that a combination of factors is at play: potentially less control over a process, logistical challenges, start-up requirements, mixed or poor results; shipping limitations and the reality that offshoring costs have been creeping up and are likely to continue doing so. That, he said, has led to a more studied approach.

Offshoring, no doubt, will continue to be a viable option, but the focus now may be seeing it not as a vehicle to glory and greater profits but as a part of an overall business plan.

Director of Sales Robert Xeller Advertising Sales Anna Bzowski Director of Marketing Services Janice E. Swindells Circulation Manager Jan Valois Publications Advisory Board Kurt Breischaft - Belden (Chairman) Antonio Ayala - J.J. Lowe, Mexico Ferruccio Bellina -TKT Group/President ACIMAF, Italy Anand Bhagwat - Wire and Cable Services, India Rick Kristensen - Beta LaserMike, USA Malcom Michael - Australasian Wire Association, Australia Don Schollin - Q-S Technologies, USA Ken Scott - UK Ralph Skalleberg - Skaltek USA Dave Stackpole - Nutmeg Wire, USA Giulio Properzi - Continuus Properzi, Italy Robert Wild - Niehoff Endex North America, USA WAI Executive Committee Liaison Dane Armendariz Henkel Surface Technologies Technical Advisors John Drummond - Scotia Group Nate Rosebrooks - Fluid Coating Technology R. M. Shemenski - RMS Consulting, Inc.

Mark Marselli Editor-in-chief

In Memoriam Urbain “Urb” J.H. Malo (1919-2007) The Wire Association International lost a very good friend when Urb Malo died March 15 after a long illness (see p. 25). Urb was a common sense manager who did not require rules and oversight to do his job well.

He loved the industry and generously shared his time with the Association over the span of five decades. He was a terrific ambassador for the Association, a passionate advocate of our educational mission and a friend to many in the industry. His tremendous contributions to WAI should not be forgotten.

6 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL (ISSN-0277-4275) is published monthly by the Wire Journal, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wire Association International, Inc. Address all correspondence concerning advertising production, editorial and circulation to Wire Journal International, 1570 Boston Post Road, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA. Tel: 203-453-2777; fax: 203-453-8384; web site: wirenet.org; e-mail mmarselli@wirenet.org. Printed in USA. Subscription rates: $95 per year, USA; $105 per year, Canada and Mexico; other countries, $125 per year (includes air mail). Single copies: $6 in the U.S.; all other countries $7. Periodicals postage paid at Guilford, CT 06437, USA, and at additional offices.

Wire Journal International grants photocopy permission to libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 21 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970, USA, for a fee of $0.50 per article.

Payments should be sent directly to the CCC. Requests for bulk orders or reprints should be sent to the Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA. © 2007 by Wire Journal, Inc. All rights reserved. The Publisher of Wire Journal International assumes no responsibility for the validity of manufacturers’ claims made herein. Back issues of Wire Journal International are on microfilm and available from University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, USA. Phone: 313-761-4700.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA.

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World Calendar May 23-24, 2007: National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo Hartland, Wisconsin, USA. To be held at the Midwest Airlines Center, Hall A. Contact: Cheryl Luck, Expo Productions Inc., tel. 262-367-5500 or 800-367-552; fax 262367-9956; e-mail cherylluck@sbcglobal.netInternet; Internet www.expoproductionsinc.com./wireshowinfo.htm.

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May 28-31, 2007: Wire Russia 2007 Moscow, Russia. To be held at the Expo Centre Krasnya.

Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-7815180; fax 312-781-5188; e-mail mail: info@mdna.com Internet www.mdna.com.

June 10-12, 2007: World Wire & Cable Conference Paris, France. The theme of this conference, to be held at the Paris Rive Gauche Hotel, is creating value and controlling risk in the wire and cable industry. Contact: CRU Events. e-mail cruevents@crugroup.com, Internet www.cruevents.com June 24-28, 2007: JICABLE 2007 Versailles, France. To be held at the Palais des Congres, JICABLE is an international conference and exhibition on LV, MV, HV and EHV (extra high voltage) cables. The event is held every four years. For more details, go to www.jicable.org.

June 25-28, 2007: FASTENER TECH™ ’07 Rosemont, Illinois, USA. To be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Contact: www.fastenertech.com and www.mwfa.net.

October 16-18, 2007: wire Southeast ASIA 2007 Bangkok, Thailand. To be held at the BITEC Exhibition Centre, this event, formerly known as wire Singapore, is organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia Pte Ltd. Singapore. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180; fax 312781-5188; e-mail info@mdna.com; Internet www.mdna.com.

October 17, 2007: Non-Ferrous Bangkok Bangkok, Thailand. This seminar on the latest developments in nonferrous wire and tube technology is jointly organized by the Int’l Wire & Machinery Assn./Int’l Tube Assn. during wire Southeast Asia, BITEC exhibition centre. www.iwma.org.

Cable Consultants Corporation A division of EL-TECH TECHNOLOGY, INC. New York Office: North Carolina Office: 7 Woodland Avenue 325 Queens Road, Apt. 7 Larchmont, NY 10538 Charlotte, NC 28204-3256 Tel: (914) 834-8865 Tel: (704) 375-9313 Fax: (914) 834-8903 Fax: (704) 375-9321 e-mail: info@cableconsultantscorp.com e-mail: fhardyccc@carolina.rr.com Website: www.cableconsultantscorp.com

8 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

October 31-November 2, 2007: Kiev Industrial Week 2007 Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine. The Fourth edition of Kiev Industrial Week 2007, which includes Wire Steel Ropes 2007 and Cabling Wiring 2007, will be held at the National Complex Expocenter. Contact: Olga Krasko, TDS-Expo LLC, tel. 38044-526-91-84; e-mail olga@welding.kiev.ua; www.weldexpo.com.ua.

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October 24-31, 2007: K 2007, the 17th international Trade Fair Plastics and Rubber Düsseldorf, Germany. K 2007 will be held at the Düsseldorf fairgrounds, Halls 1-17. This event for plastic and rubber industries is organized by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180; e-mail info@mdna.com.

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November 5-7, 2007: Wire 07 Bolgna Bolgna, Italy. This technical conference is organized by the Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Per Filo (ACIMAF); The International Wire and Machinery Association (IWMA); Comité Européen de la Tréfilerie (CET); and the WAI. Contact: WAI, tel. 001-203-453-2777, ext. 133; Internet www.wirenet.org.

November 11-14, 2007: 56th IWCS/Focus™ Conference and Symposium Orlando, Florida, USA. Contact: IWCS/Focus, Internet www. iwcs.org; e-mail admin@iwcs.org; tel. 732-389-0990.

WIRE ASSOCIATION INT’L EVENTS For more information about these events, contact the WAI, 1570 Boston Post Road, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 064370578, USA. Tel. 203-453-2777; fax 203-453-8384; Internet www.wirenet.org.

June 15, 2007: Midwest Chapter’s 5th Annual Golf Tournament West Chicago, Illinois, USA. The Midwest Chapter will hold its annual golf tournament at St. Andrews Golf & Country Club. A pdf registration form is available online at the Midwest Chapter webpage at wirenet.org. For more details, contact WAI’s Chip Marsh at tel. 203-453-1748, e-mail cmarsh@wirenet.org.

November 5-7, 2007: Wire 07 Bologna Bolgna, Italy. This technical conference is organized by the Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Per Filo (ACIMAF); The International Wire and Machinery Association (IWMA); Comité Européen de la Tréfilerie (CET); and the WAI. Contact: WAI, tel. 001-203-453-2777, ext. 133; Internet www.wirenet.org.

June 7-11, 2008: Wire Expo 2008 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. To be held at the Pittsburgh Convention Center, this event incorporates: the Wire Expo trade exposition, the technical program and the WAI’s 78th Annual Convention. The event addresses ferrous and nonferrous manufacturing, and electrical, data and voice segments as well as wire forming and related wire and wire products.

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Industry News General Cable makes further inroads in Asia U.S.-based General Cable Corporation, which earlier this year acquired a Chinese manufacturer of specialty automotive and industrial cable products, announced that it will enter two joint ventures that will expand the company’s business in India.

General Cable reported in a press release that it is forming two joint ventures with Plaza Cable Group of Cos., based in New Delhi. One joint venture firm, which is being launched immediately, will focus on the energy cable business. The second, involving construction cables, will be completed during the second quarter, it said.

The ventures, to be based in New Delhi, will incorporate all of Plaza Cable’s wire and cable assets, the release said. Plaza Cable manufactures low- and medium-voltage energy and construction cables for Indian markets.

General Cable said in the release that it will invest up to $40 million to expand production of the joint ventures’ products. Those initial and follow-up investments, it noted, are being funded with the company’s available cash.

“We have ambitious plans for further growth in India and expect to quickly become a leading supplier in the Indian market,” said General Cable President and CEO Gregory Kenny.

“We continue to actively seek additional acquisition opportunities to grow our position in this strategically important market.”

The joint ventures represent further inroads in Asia for General Cable. In February, it announced the acquisition of Huaming Specialty Cable Co. Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer of specialty automotive and industrial cable products, based in Jiangsu Province.

General Cable has plants in the U.S., Canada, China, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, France, Turkey, Brazil, Angola, New Zealand and Fiji.

In 2005, General Cable purchased Safran SA’s former power and telecom cables business SILEC SA; Draka Comteq’s North American electronic and data-communication cable businesses, which included well-known brands Helix and HiTemp; and Beru SA, an auto aftermarket firm based in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Lincoln Electric acquires company in Poland U.S.-based Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., has acquired Spawmet Sp. z.o.o., a privately held Poland manufacturer of stick electrode products.

At its website, Spawmet reports that it has been active since 1995. It supplies electrodes for: welding wires; welding low-alloy steels and low-carbon steels; welding acid resistant steels; and hardfacing. It notes that it was first registered to ISO 9001 in 2000 and that it has implemented the Integrated System of Quality Management and Environment Management confirmed by ISO 14001

and ISO 9001:2000 Certificates. “The quality of our products is also approved by the following Classification Societies: UDT, TÜV, PRS, GL, DNV and LR,” it states.

“This acquisition provides Lincoln with an excellent portfolio of stick electrode products, which will help us pursue our growth strategy for the distribution markets in Eastern Europe,” said Lincoln Electric Chairman and CEO John M. Stropki, who noted that Spawmet’s extensive distribution network will enhance Lincoln’s overall market position in Poland.

Power cable project for Shanghai infrastructure awarded to Nexans Nexans reported that it has won an order worth US$42 million from the Shanghai Power Equipment & Materials Co. Ltd. to provide the essentials needed to help meet growing demand for power in Shanghai.

The contract, a press release said, calls for Nexans to manufacture and install a 17 km, 500kV, underground power cable circuit, 51 km of cable in all, for Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co. Ltd. The project, which will link Shibo and Sanlin 500kV substations in Shanghai, China, is part of a global infrastructure project to meet Shanghai’s increasing power demands, it said. It noted that the city’s consumption is estimated to reach 125 billion kW by 2010.

The cables will be made in Nexans’ Charleroi factory in Belgium and installed on behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co. Ltd., the release said. It noted that the order represents “two world records as both the first intra-city 500kV cable and the first 500kV XLPE (crosslinked polyethylene insulated) cable with a cross-sectional area of 2,500 mm2.”

The cable will be laid as three separate 17 km lengths in the tunnel, one for each phase of the 3-phase electricity supply, and will require over 100 HV (high voltage) joints. The company said that it will use “an innovative cable technology for this high voltage application, with a metallic screen in smooth laminated aluminum.

This is a much lighter solution than the conventional lead or corrugated aluminum sheath and this will make the cable easier to install.” The cables should be installed between the end of 2007 and 2009, it said.

“The Shanghai project will provide an important customer reference for future commercial developments in China and the general Asia region, which is a particularly competitive market for HV cables,” said Patrick Barth, president of Nexans’ HV business group.

Does your company have news that belongs here? E-mail it to the WJI at editorial@wirenet.org.

10 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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Gauder Group presented new tech at demonstrations at Roanne facility Gauder Group reports that representatives from about a dozen companies from Europe, Middle East and America attended presentations in late February at its facility in Roanne, France, where they got to see Setic and Pourtier technology in action.

The Roanne facility includes Setic’s offices and workshop where Setic and Pourtier machines are manufactured. The company notes that it holds such presentations at least once a year or more depending on the range of technology to be shown.

The event presented a range of Setic and Pourtier concentric technology, with three machines shown under production conditions. The demonstration included: the company’s 630 DIN bobbin production capacity of its Concentric Tape Screening Head, type TEC 630-95-dc, which is more than 30 times the one of pad on a tangential taping head, it reported. This process, it said, is ideal for counter helix or screen application for the manufacture of LV, MV and HV, control and special cables at high production speeds (up to 600 rpm); a concentric steel wire armoring head, model TEC 630-SWA, which enables manufacturers to increase threefold the armoring speed laying (wire diameter max. 1.25 mm) compared with traditional technology;

Attendees get a close up view of machinery at Gauder Group’s production facility in Roanne, France.

and a multiwire concentric strander, type COS1200-2, which helps optimize the copper consumption and increases the capacity of stranding line for power cables (section 35 - 500 mm² and more).

Also shown was the Quali2Twist stranding machine, type TA 1000Q2T, for bare wire strand or sub-strand assembly for very flexible cable, that creates single twist quality products with double twist productivity at speeds two times greater than the single twist process.

Attendees from three continents were informed about developments such as predictive maintenance for a reliable and in-depth diagnostic (vibration and thermographic) analysis and other advances to improve the productivity and the product quality: machine upgrades and machine park improvement, technical visits, technical audit, factory moving, spare parts (with high technology bows), as well as training.

MAY 2007 11

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TELE-FONIKA reports contract, growth last 15 years Poland’s TELE-FONIKA Kable Handel S.A. reported that it has secured a US$5 million contract with ENION S.A., described as Poland’s second largest power industry concern, for the supply of cables.

The contract calls for a range of cables to be supplied to ENION branches in Krakow, Będzin, Bielsko-Biała, Częstochowa and Tarnów, the announcement said. The specific categories included low-voltage electrical power cables with cross-linked polyethylene insulation and polyvinylchloride coating; low-voltage electrical power cables with polyvinylchloride coating and insulation; medium-voltage electrical power cables with crosslinked polyethylene insulation/with polyvinylchloride coating and insulation; medium-voltage electrical power cables with non-drip paper insulation impregnating agent; electrical power cables for over-

head use; and electrical power cables, pilot wires, as well as signaling and a range of telecom cables.

TELE-FONIKA notes that in the 15 years it has been active in the cable industry, it has seen remarkable growth. It expanded from the purchases of Krakowska Fabryka Kabli in 1998, and Elektrim Kable in 2002. It pointed out that it has grown from humble origins to become the leader in the cables market in Poland, the fourth leading cable manufacturer in Europe and the 19th largest cable producer in the world. “Ahead of us are only the giants of the branch – great international cable corporations,” it said, noting that the TELE-FONIKA Group, which exports 70 percent of its sales volume, now employs more than 4,000 people in its five production plants and eight branch offices.

AMSC restructures, combines plants, cuts 37 jobs American Superconductor Corp.

(AMSC), which has reported a steady stream of performance records and contracts over the years, announced on March 29 that it would restructure its operations.

A press release said that the company was cutting 37 positions and vacating its manufacturing facility as part of measures it said are expected to save the company $4 million in fiscal year 2008.

The company reported in the release that it has reorganized its AMSC Wires, SuperMachines and Power Electronic Systems businesses into two divisions: AMSC Superconductors, which combines the capabilities of AMSC Wires and SuperMachines, focusing on the production of HTS wire and coils and related HTS products/projects; and AMSC Power Systems, focusing on the production of power electronic systems for the utility, industrial and wind power markets.

AMSC Superconductors will operate out of the company’s 355,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Devens, Massachusetts. The company’s SuperMachines facility in Westborough, Massachusetts will be vacated and its remaining core of HTS rotating machine engineers and equipment have been relocated from Westborough to Devens.

“We are taking action to transition fully to the manufacturing stage with HTS prod-

12 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

ucts while also reducing expenses and cash burn,” said AMSC CEO Greg Yurek.

“From a cost perspective, we have streamlined our business units, consolidated facilities and realigned global headcount consistent with near term revenue and profit opportunities. AMSC has built a significant portfolio of technology, patents and knowhow related to HTS rotating machines machines we have built and tested to verify our technology.”

Going forward, Yurek said, AMSC Superconductors plans to license designs for HTS rotating machines to companies that have the infrastructure to manufacture these systems.

Even as the company announced the restructuring, it has continued to report the winning of further contracts, a recent one being a third multi-million-dollar wind energy system development contract awarded to its Windtech subsidiary from a Chinese company. That project, a press release said, calls for the development of “a portfolio of 2.5 megawatt wind energy systems” for Dongfang Steam Turbine Works Corporation of China. DTC was described as one of China’s largest steam turbine manufacturers and one of the top four wind energy system manufacturers in China.

AMSC also reported that its D-VAR grid interconnection technology was chosen by a wind farm in the U.K.

LS Cable reports cable orders from SE Asia South Korea’s LS Cable announced that it has won orders worth $32 million in Thailand and Vietnam for supplying optical and coaxial cables for use in wireless networks.

“This winning the Southeast Asian projects (helps) the firm expand its business in the rapidly growing region, along with the completion of its second Vietnam factory in Ho Chi Minh city slated for later this year,” the company said in an announcement at its website. It noted that the contracts call for LS Cable to provide cables worth $22 million to Thailand’s DTAC, the country’s second largest mobile service firm, and $10 million worth of products to Viettel, a leading mobile provider in Vietnam, by 2008.

Belden to purchase German company U.S.-based Belden announced that it has agreed to buy Lumberg Automation Components GmbH, a supplier of industrial connectivity products for factory automation.

Lumberg, whose product lines includes industrial connectors, high performance cord-sets and field bus communication components, reported 2006 revenues of approximately US$75 million, a press release said.

“We believe the addition of Lumberg Automation will complement the industrial connectivity portfolio of the recently acquired Hirschmann Automation and Control and reinforce Belden’s leadership in the industrial market,” said John Stroup, Belden President and CEO. He noted that Lumberg Automation “has developed an extremely strong brand over its 70year history and has established itself as an innovator in industrial connectivity for factory automation.”

Lumberg Automation is headquartered in Schalksmuhle, Germany, and has production facilities in Germany and the United States. The companies expect the transaction to close during the second quarter.

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Nexans lands contract from Yemen for voltage and instrumentation cables Nexans announced that it has been awarded a contract worth approximately US$12 million to supply medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) power cables and instrumentation cables for the Yemen LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminal project.

A press release said that Nexans will

be the sole cable supplier for the Yemen LNG terminal project, providing approximately 1,100 km of medium voltage and low voltage power, instrumentation and fiber optic cables armored with steel tapes. These cables will be used to carry power, data and telecommunications throughout the ter-

minal, it said, noting that they will also be used in control and instrumentation applications. The cables will be made

by Nexans plants in Belgium and France, with installation scheduled for completion by mid 2007 and the LNG terminal ready by the end of 2008.

The project is being commissioned on behalf of Yemen LNG Ltd. (YLNG)

by YEMGAS FZCO, a joint venture led by Technip, a corporation active in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services, and also including JGC (Japan Gas Corporation) and an American company, KBR, that designs and builds the LNG plants, the release said.

“The Middle East region is a fast growing area where many projects have been constructed in the past few years,” said Bruno Thomas, Nexans’ Executive Vice-President for the Middle-East and other areas including South America, Africa and Russia. He added that “this contract underlines the close cooperation between Nexans and the major engineering companies such as Technip.”

The new plant will be located at the Arabian Gulf port of Balhaf on the southern coast of Yemen, approximately 140 km west of the port city of Al Mukalla and 380 km east of Aden, the release said.

CommScope agrees to buy Signal Vision U.S.-based CommScope reported that it has agreed to buy Signal Vision, Inc., a supplier of broadband radio frequency subscriber products that include digital passives, indoor amplifiers and addressable taps.

“The addition of the Signal Vision line provides CommScope with a more integrated suite of products for the last mile in broadband networks,” said Jim Hughes, Executive Vice President, Broadband Sales & Marketing. “We believe there is significant potential to expand the reach of Signal Vision’s products through CommScope’s worldwide channels.”

Signal Vision had revenues of less than $30 million in 2006, a press release said.

The transaction, it said, is expected to close in the second quarter.

14 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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Morgan Construction improves rod mill in Moldova U.S.-based Morgan Construction Company reported that it was able to improve production at a rod mill at Moldova Steel Works (MMZ) in Rybnitsa, the Republic of Moldova, through an improvement to the NoTwist Mill gear increaser.

“Since the mill’s installation in 2000

by SMS-Meer, the mill had run at lower than design speed due to vibration issues and bearing failures,” a press release said. It noted that the V No-Twist Mill gear increaser was being rebuilt every six to 12 months due to frequent bearing failures.

The Morgan gear increaser was designed for 120 meters per second operation, with an improved bearing design, as well as a better lubrication

New management noted for RAD-CON U.S.-based RAD-CON, Inc., a manufacturer of industrial heat processing equipment, announced a management reorganization and ownership change.

David Blackman has taken over the position of president of RAD-CON, a supplier to processors of sheet, strip, and wire in both ferrous and nonferrous industries, a press release said.

Day-to-day operations, it said, will be managed by vice presidents Christopher Messina and Michael McDonald, with promotions of Chris Williams and Arno Muennich to engineering directors.

The release said that the former company president, Brice Blackman, had retired after 25 years of service. His shares have been acquired by Messina and McDonald. The management changes took effect in January and the ownership change was finalized in March, it said.

RAD-CON serves both domestic and international markets with its niche bell-type furnace that uses a 100% hydrogen protective atmosphere. The company reported record revenues in 2005-2006 mostly due to export sales.

Taking off from this success, RADCON has restructured its management team to position the company for further growth, it said.

system, the release said. “This improvement resulted in an immediate increase of mill speed from 95 m/s to 105 m/s. The mill is not yet rolling at even higher speeds due to other restrictions in the rod outlet.”

The upgrade has enabled MMZ to increase its rod production by nearly

10 percent, the release said, adding that with additional upgrades, speeds should rise to at least 110 m/s. It cited Alexander Savyuk, Technical Director for MMZ, as saying that the company intends to install a new Morgan high speed inclined laying head.

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MAY 2007 15

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Corning fiber chosen for Faroe Island submarine cable project U.S.-based Corning Incorporated announced today that its Cascade® EX1000 optical fiber has been specified for the submarine cable that will be supplied to Faroese Telecom for the SHEFA-2 network. NSW GmbH, a Corning Cable Systems company and a provider of repeaterless submarine cable systems, will supply the cable.

The network, a press release said, will be separated into three main links that will connect the Faroe, Shetland and Orkney Islands and the mainland of Scotland. The direct link between the islands of Faroe and Shetland, approximately 400 km, is the core challenge of the system design, it said.

The requirements included the capabil-

ity to transmit up to 19x10 Gb/s on a single fiber pair without using remote optical pumped amplifiers. To meet these needs NSW selected Corning Vascade EX1000 fiber, which is a low attenuation, single-mode optical fiber, with average attenuation values of greater than 0.170 dB/km, it said.

“Corning Vascade EX1000 fiber’s ultra-low attenuation performance makes it a perfect fit for the challenges presented in the design of this unrepeatered submarine network,” said Clifford L. Hund, division vice president, sales and marketing, Corning Optical Fiber.

The release noted that standard grade Vascade® EX1000 fiber features typical attenuation lower than 0.174 dB/km at 1550 nm and improved Raman performance, providing extended reach and flexibility for network designers.

Zenergy reports award for product innovation U.K.-based Zenergy Power plc, a manufacturer and developer of commercial applications for superconductive materials, announced that it has been chosen as the overall winner of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan European Product Innovation of the Year Award for its R&D work in the field of hightemperature superconductors.

The award, a press release said, was made for the company’s innovative, advanced second generation HTS wires for electric power and magnet applications. “The Board considers this to be of particular significance at a time when the Group is gaining commercial traction for these applications within the field of renewable energy production,” it said.

Zenergy has pioneered two classes of HTS wires. To date, industrial production relies on the current generation of HTS wire. The wires are in the form of multifilaments and possess reinforcements in order to meet the varying demands of industrial applications. The superconductor ceramic is made of bismuth-strontium-copper-calcium oxide which enables it to achieve a very high current density.

16 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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Wheelabrator announces investment in Poland U.S.-based Wheelabrator Group, a supplier of surface preparation and finishing technology for sectors that include the wire and cable industry, announced that it plans to build a multimillion dollar manufacturing facility in Poland, accelerating its expansion plans into central and Eastern Europe.

The 377,000-sq-ft facility, to be located in Wrzesnia, Poland, will be operational by the end of 2007, a press release said. The new facility will increase the production capacity of Wheelabrator’s existing Zagorow manufacturing operation and will employ 200 staff at its peak capacity, it noted.

This move is the cornerstone of the company’s regional expansion strategy and was the basis for Mid Europa Partners’ investment in the Wheelabrator Group last year, the release said.

“Wheelabrator’s three targeted regional growth areas are Asia, India and central Europe,” said Wheelabrator Group President and CEO Robert E. Joyce Jr. “Our investment in Wrzesnia is the first

step in establishing a strong local presence in these strategic growth markets.

Our customers demand that we provide better local support, faster service and closer technical links as they move production eastward. Investing in Wresznia, therefore, is our way of committing to our customers’ long-term growth plans.”

The release noted that the company already has a small plant in Zagorow near Konin, but that it needed a larger regional facility with an on-the-ground presence to fully support its growing business. “We looked at a number of the surrounding countries before finalizing our decision to further invest in Poland.

We have been operating in Poland for more than 10 years and, in the final analysis, were comfortable with the business infrastructure required to support our growth objectives.”

Wheelabrator’s technology includes wheelblast, airblast, wetblast and mass finishing equipment for surface preparation and cleaning.

DISA Goff has new owner, new name After more than 15 years of foreign ownership, DISA Goff has returned to local ownership under the new company name of Goff, Inc., said a press release that announced that the company’s managing director, Keith Yerby, has purchased the company, whose abrasive cleaning technology is used by sectors that includes the wire and cable industry.

The release noted that Goff, which has been in business since 1977, employs over 100 people. Yerby, who began at Goff in 1991, has served in several management positions over the past 16 years, gaining experience in every aspect of the shot blast industry, it said.

The company’s technology “is used in every facet of metal preparation ranging from descaling, anchor patterns for coating adhesion, simple cosmetic finishing and shot peening,” the release said.

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MAY 2007 17

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CMC’s Swiss subsidiary makes US$28 million bid for steel mill in Croatia U.S.-based Commercial Metals Company announced that its Swiss subsidiary, Commercial Metals International AG (CMI), has submitted a bid to acquire “Zeljezara Split” d.d.

Kastel Sucurac (Split) from the Croatian Privatization Fund.

A press release described Split as an electric arc furnace steel reinforcing bar mill with a wire mesh facility. The business has become available because of privatization efforts that are being made in preparation for Croatia’s anticipated membership in the

European Union in 2009, it said.

CMI, the release said, is apparently one of six bidders who submitted bids in connection with the proposed privatization of Split. Split has approximately 170,000 metric tons of rebar capacity along with 30,000 tons of mesh capacity. Sisak has currently approximately 70,000 metric tons melting capacity and about 300,000 metric tons of tubular manufacturing capacity in its existing product line which include seamless, welded and cold processed pipe. CMI’s bid for Split, including all

variables other than capital for increasing production, is approximately US$28 million, the release said. “CMI contemplates future expansions including capital expenditures and working capital increase of at least US$54 million,” it said. The existing level of the employee work force, less normal retirements or other natural attrition, will be retained for a minimum of three years under the terms of an agreement CMI has already reached with the trade union representing employees at the facility, it noted.

Sumitomo Electric reports shipments of new HTS wire to soon begin Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., reports that it has already sent samples and is now scheduled to make commercial shipments of its bismuth (Bi) based high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, “DI-BSCCO,” at the end of June.

The wire, which has a critical current (Ic) value of at least 180 A, is scheduled to begin shipping at the end of June 2007.

18 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Sumitomo Electric noted that it developed the Bi-based HTS wire and participated in several HTS cable demonstration projects including the Albany HTS cable project in the U.S. It said that the company has been selling its high critical current HTS wires (Ic >150 A) in the global market.

In January 2006, Sumitomo Electric

developed a HTS wire that it said offered the world’s highest critical current performance of at least 200 A, the release said.

Critical current, it noted, is the maximum current that can be transmitted in the superconducting state and is the most important performance value for HTS. ■

ad layout.qxp

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Asian Focus Asian Focus Asia news briefs Vietnam joins pan-Asian fiber network Vietnam’s state-owned EVN Telecom has joined a US$200 million project by Singapore based VSNL Int’l to lay a pan-Asian submarine optic cable, per published reports citing state-controlled media.

The reports described VSNL, the telecom arm of India's Tata Group, as owning and operating international mobile, voice and data networks, and EVN Telecom, a subsidiary of Electricity of Vietnam, as providing CDMA mobile phone, landline phone and internet services. The 6,800 km cable network will link Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Japan, Guam, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the reports said. Vietnam's landing station would be in the southern city of Vung Tau, near the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, and the cable is expected to be operational in the first quarter of next year, it said.

India’s RPG Cables in expansion mode RPG Enterprises reported that its RPG Cables business is looking to increase the low tension and power cable production capacities at its Silvassa and Mysore units, respectively. This apart, the company said that it may set up a greenfield high-tension manufacturing facility outside Mumbai to cash in on the booming power cables business, Times News Network reported.

RPG Cables managing director Nikhil Gupta was reported as saying in the article that the expansion plans for Silvassa and Mysore units have already been initiated, but that no decision has been taken on the proposed greenfield venture. The company already produces high tension cables at its Thane unit (Mumbai).

Fund expands Asia presence with two buys Canada’s Tree Island Wire Income Fund announced that it has agreed to acquire Baoan International Investment Co. (BII) and Universal Metal New Material Co., Ltd. (UM) for approximately US$18.5 million.

BII, a U.S.-based corporation, and UM, a Hong Kong-registered company, are majority owned by China's first publicly listed company, China Baoan Group Company Ltd. while UM owns and operates two wire products manufacturing facilities in the Binhai New Development Zone in Tianjin, China, a news release said. BII owns Universal Sourcing of America Industries, Inc., a U.S. wire products business with a am office in Beijing, China. BII and UM's combined manufacturing operations produce drawn wire, stucco reinforcing products, engineered mesh and various industrial wire products. Their trading operations source and export a diverse range of wire products from China to customers in North America. In 2006 BII and UM reported combined sales volumes of approximately 78,000 tons, with revenues of approximately Cdn$67 million, it said.

20 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

China has lofty goals for its aerospace industry China has seen its shipbuilding industry grow and its auto industry begin to export; now, the focus is on aerospace, with the goal being for the domestic industry to compete with Airbus and Boeing by 2020, observes a recent report in the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ article noted that China already has companies that make parts for Boeing and Airbus, such as landing gear and rudders. At least 34% of all Boeing planes contain parts made in China whille that rate is more than 50% for Airbus, it added.

China was described as the world’s fastest-growing major market for commercial aircraft, with Boeing Co. projecting that it will need 2,880 planes, valued at nearly $280 billion, during the 20 years ending in 2025. The WSJ article said that China is building a regional jet and its goal is to produce an even larger model by 2020 to compete with Boeing and Airbus.

The WSJ story said that it will not be easy for Chinese suppliers to produce airplanes that can compete with Airbus and Boeing because the process is quite extensive, from building the planes and providing customer service support and spare parts to the exten-

sive process of getting the necessary approvals for air worthiness.

The WSJ article said that China made attempts to build larger planes in the 1970s and 1980s, but that they were not able to attain the necessary levels of quality. One advantage now is the greater degree of technology exchange with other countries and the resources that exist to make significant investments, it said. China has seen success, it said, noting that it is the world’s third-largest producer of ships in terms of tonnage.

The biggest challenge, the WSJ article said, may well be convincing potential customers to invest in a plane without a track record or reputation for customer service. Further, the technology that China has access to may not be able to keep up with that of the established airplane makers. For instance, it said, Airbus and Boeing are focusing on a new generation of jets built largely from composites rather than aluminum, which can provide advantages in terms of maintenance.

The article cited one industry observer who explained the challenge this way,“The airlines are not picking a product -- they're getting married to a supplier for a long, long time.”

China cuts to export tax rebates includes steel wire China has cut export tax rebates on steel wire and other products and removed them on others, Forbes.com has reported.

Citing information posted at China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), Forbes.com reported that export tax rebates on stainless steel products and some specialty steel, including coldrolled steel coils and silicon-manganese steel wire, will be reduced to 5 percent.

The move comes amid growing trade friction between the U.S. and China, the article said, noting that Washington had imposed countervailing duties on Chinese exports on coated paper, among other measures.

CISA notes at its website that it has some 119 group members whose steel output, sales income and staff number account for 92.6%, 90% and 75% respectively of the total in the domestic steel industry.

Have news that belongs here? If so, e-mail it to editorial@wirenet.org.

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New Niehoff plant reflects long-term presence and belief in India In February 2005, Germany’s Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH, a supplier of wiredrawing and related technology, opened a new US$1.5 million plant in India for its subsidiary, Niehoff of India.

The site, which is located in a new industrial development area near Hyderabad and has 43 employees, includes a manufacturing shop for mechanical components, a warehouse, a paint shop, an assembly area, a test area, and a showroom for machines and assemblies. There, Niehoff of India produces simpler standard machines and assembles sophisticated technology from machine components provided from its parent company. It also provides customers with spare parts, training and professional service and advice. Niehoff GmbH President Heinz Rockenhäuser recently discussed his company’s activities in India with WJI.

cited as two major obstacles for companies in India: are you seeing improvements in those areas? How big a role are those factors in India’s outlook and potential?

Rockenhäuser: Of course the actual infrastructure in India is far away from the industrialized western countries and is also not comparable with the situation in China, if we look at the coast side of that country. Nevertheless we see in all regions of India big efforts are being made to build-up and develop a better infrastructure. No question that a democracy like India with a long history in bureaucracy as well, has its problems to accelerate investments in infrastructure. On the other hand India is looking for investors in all business segments and

WJI: To what degree did Niehoff build its plant in India based on current demand as compared to what it expects to see in future years?

What sectors do you see providing the most potential growth for India’s wire industry?

Rockenhäuser: First we would like to mention that Niehoff has been active in Niehoff of India staff gather in front of their new factory. the Indian market for more than 30 years. those who are prepared to invest can Further, we have had experience with expect a long-term growth - maybe not license production of certain Niehoff at top growth rates as in China, but products in India since 20 years. After maybe more constant and stable. Also the last recession in 2002, we saw that relatively high interest rates from local we could realize a substantial growth in financial institutions help to avoid investthe Indian market. Within the last two ments only on speculation. years we got additional orders from surrounding countries like Bangladesh, Sri WJI: How did you come to choose your Lanka, Pakistan and some African counparticular location in India? Has local tries. The plant was built not only for the government there helped the process? actual demand, but also for the expectRockenhäuser: Right from the beginning ed growth in the next three to four of Niehoff's Indian activities, our former years. We expect annual growth of agent and joint-venture partner was about 10 percent. We see good growth located in Hyderabad. Here we started potential, especially in the sectors of license production and later on our building wire, medium and high voltage joint-venture company. Meanwhile power cable and automotive wires.

Niehoff of India is a 100 per cent Niehoff subsidiary. Hyderabad is a good choice.

The state of Andhra Pradesh offers a WJI: Lack of proper infrastructure and a reasonable land for infrastructure and burdensome bureaucracy have been

good growth potential in the future.

Hyderabad is already building a new airport which will take care of future traffic demand and international flight connections have been added in recent years. The local government offered us an attractive piece of land to build our new plant. We could use available infrastructure and we are satisfied with our relation to the local authorities, although we did not get any financial support for our investment or any tax benefits.

WJI: How does the kind of service and technical advice that Niehoff offers in India differ than what it might offer in Europe or North America? For customers in India, would it be more accurate to say that you sell systems that produce products or that you design systems that produce a given product (in other words, do your clients know what they want/need?)?

Rockenhäuser: Because of our long-term partnership with India, our local staff and management has already good experience and we are able to offer all necessary technical advice in sales of our equipment and later on ensure qualified service from our Indian organization. Nevertheless, if customers are asking for special requirements, production of special cables, superfine wires, automotive cables, data cables etc., support is given from our headquarters in Germany. Our production is concentrating on standard products such as rod breakdown machines for copper and aluminum, multiwire drawing lines, bunchers, medium and fine wire drawing machines. Brought in items such as PLC-controls, drives, operating panels are of same standard as in Germany and imported from Europe.

Therefore whatever production line is supplied, electrics hard- and software are standardized, include all experience and know-how from our headquarters in Germany and can be serviced by any Niehoff service engineer around the globe.

The Indian wire and cable industry is mostly based on British Standards (very close to European Standards), therefore requirements from Indian customers are

MAY 2007 21

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4/24/2007

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quite similar. Niehoff offers our Indian customers equipment that can produce wires and cables according to international standards. This is helpful, because most of our Indian customers are also interested in exporting their products. We also offer consultancy to newcomers/ start-ups in the electric wire and cable industry and provide support to help them ramp up production with competitive quality and high efficiency.

WJI: To what degree does Niehoff compete in India with suppliers of low-cost equipment of lesser quality? Is this any different than your locations in Singapore and Shanghai, especially in terms of ability to provide service and technical assistance? Are customers in India willing – and able -- to pay for quality equipment?

Rockenhäuser: Of course we face from time to time competition from local machine makers or suppliers of low cost equipment/low quality equipment from other Asian countries. Price-wise we are not able to compete, because we produce in India according to the same

design and quality standards as in Germany. We do no local re-design or costcutting to compete with, say, primitive equipment offered by local competition.

Our target is to use local-made components and increase step-by-step the domestic content of our production.

That is how we hope to reach a cost level that is fully competitive with the above-mentioned low-cost equipment.

We help customers understand the benefits of output, productivity and better quality/less down time of our equipment. Niehoff of India has been a leading manufacturer and supplier in India for years now. Over 80 percent of all installed multiwire drawing lines in India are made through Niehoff of India.

Regarding service and technical assistance, there is no question that Niehoff of India can provide a comparable level as we do it from our sales and service locations in Shanghai and Singapore. Of course there are still many small and medium size wire and cable companies in India, who are actually not able to pay for quality equipment from Niehoff.

Anyhow, many of them are developing

and growing and they will become potential future customers of ours.

WJI: With this new plant in India, do you see Niehoff’s global picture now largely complete for Asia or should we expect to see further activity, including in other countries?

Rockenhäuser: Looking on the globe, the Niehoff Group is actually present in four places in Asia: India, Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore. India is actually our only production site and we will definitely further develop and improve this activity in the years to come. A qualified and effective production needs constant efforts, especially in training of local people, which we are doing continuously. For now, India will be Niehoff's only production site in Asia. We constantly follow up developments outside of India, but we have no plans at this time to install a further machine production in other Asian countries. ■

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ad layout.qxp

2/15/2007

9:13 AM

Page 6

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people.qxp

4/20/2007

10:35 AM

Page 24

People Conneaut Industries reported the filling of its two top positions earlier this year. John P. Santos was promoted to president and CEO of Conneaut Industries

John P. Santos

and Russell C. Kibbe was promoted to vice president. Santos, who started with Conneaut in 1970, was promoted to vice president in 1978. He attended the University of Rhode Island and served in the U.S. Army from 1965 through 1967,

Russell C. Kibbe

including a tour of duty in Vietnam. Kibbe started with Conneaut Industries as controller in 1999. He was promoted to CFO in 2001. He previously worked for Syner, Cavallaro & Co. and for GTECH Corporation. He holds a B.S. degree in accounting from Bryant University and received his CPA certification in 1993. The president’s position had not been filled since the

24 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

death last August of Dean N. Banfield, at age 76, who was the owner/president. Banfield graduated from the University of Rhode Island and after the U.S. army veteran returned from Korea, he began a career that lasted more than a half century. Based in West Greenwhich, Rhode Island, USA, Conneaut Industries supplies industrial yarn products to the wire and cable, automotive, aerospace and fiber composites sectors.

CommScope, Inc. has promoted Mike Kelley to Senior Vice President, Global Enterprise Operations, responsible for building upon and integrating those manufacturing operations, including facilities based in North America, Europe and Australia. He has more than 20 years of experience, including eight years as a leader at CommScope where he was plant manager and vice president of operations at its manufacturing facility in Claremont, North Carolina. Before joining CommScope, he was a plant manager for General Cable Corporation and had had previously held various manufacturing and operations positions at Belden CDT Inc. He holds a BS degree and an MBA degree from the University of Tennessee. Based in Hickory, North Carolina, USA, CommScope, Inc., provides infrastructure solutions for communications networks.

Milacron, Inc., announced the promotion of Lewis Nuzzie to applications development manager. He joined Milacron in 1998 after working several years at Textron Automotive, where he designed and supervised several large-part injection molding manufacturing cells.

people.qxp

5/1/2007

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Milacron and Cincinnati Milacron organizations.

Milacron’s product lines include vertical injection molding machines that are used by the wire and cable industry.

Lewis Nuzzie

He had been a senior sales engineer in the Chicago area for Cincinnati Milacron products.

In his new position, he will be responsible for servicing existing multi-component technology customers and expanding applications for multi-component technology, with access to technology from Ferromatik

Jon Wake has joined The Eraser Company, Inc., as a product specialist, responsible for technical sales of Eraser’s product line both domestically and abroad. He holds an AAS degree from Onondaga Community College, Business Administration School. Wake has spent the last 12 years in the sales and management field at Saturn of Syracuse/Route 31, where he contributed to national branch recognition for outstanding sales and customer service. Based in Syracuse, New York, USA, The Eraser Com-

pany, Inc., supplies a range of processing equipment for the wire, cable and tube sectors.

Sartomer Company has named Dr. Luigi Colantuoni as its new president, replacing Nicholas Trainer, who retired after 37 years with the company.

Sartomer Company, is part of TOTAL’s Chemicals branch, and a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for sectors that include wire and cable. Colantuoni worked 14 years for Atotech and was managing director of Atotech Austria from 1995 to 1999, where he oversaw business development in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia. He will focus on the company’s continued global expansion, particularly new investment projects in the Far

East, the Americas, and Europe.

From 2000 to 2006, Colantuoni was president of Atotech Japan and vice president of Atotech Far East. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Naples (Italy) and an MBA from the European Institute of Business Administration. Atotech, a specialty chemical division of Total, has more than 1,300 employees, with five manufacturing sites and five application centers throughout the Far East. Based in Exton, Pennsylvania, USA, Sartomer Company, is part of TOTAL’s Chemicals branch, and a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for sectors that include wire and cable. ■

Obituaries Urbain J.H. Malo, a twoterm past president of the Wire Association and a key person in the formation of Wire Journal International, died March 15, 2007, at age 87. .

A 1942 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a B.S. degree in chemistry, Malo was a five-letter athlete/scholar at St. Raphael Academy. The industry veteran was vice president at WhitneyBlake Co. in Hamden, Connecticut, and vice president of engineering at Simplex Wire and Cable in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from where he retired in 1981.

Malo’s career included two terms (1966-1968) as president of the Wire Association and he was a key figure in the creation of WJI, which was founded during his tenure. The Association named its electrical paper division award after him in 1993.

He was active on many levels,

Urbain J.H. Malo

serving on bodies such as the Finance Committee, Executive Committee, Publications Advisory Board and Wire Foundation as well as overseeing the building of the WAI’s headquarters in Guilford in the 1970s.

“Urb was a great friend and source of guidance and encouragement to me. A great memory for me is that anytime a finance meeting was scheduled he always asked ‘Who is your

scrimmager?’ (someone to ask questions to help get the point across). He was dedicated to WAI and contributed much to the organization. He will be missed,” said S.R. “Sandy” May, WAI president in 1999.

Dave Gemelli, who served as WAI president in 1993-94, recalled that “Malo’s love for the wire industry and Wire Association were second only to that for his beloved wife, Dottie and his family.” He noted that Malo played a vital role in creating Wire Journal as the Association’s own magazine in 1968, along with helping “Urb always wanted what was best for WAI. He was a visionary and an integral factor in the success of WAI. He embraced the Association and its members as part of his family,” said Scott Higgins, WAI President in 2002. “He was a great mentor, always available to help or advise. And he became a great

friend that will be sorely missed.”

Malo was predeceased by his beloved wife of 59 years, Dorothy T. (O’Donnell) Malo (2004); son, Brian G. Malo; and grandson, Eric K. Eitler. Survivors include two daughters, Meredith Malo and Judith Eitler; and a son, Dennis Malo.

Louis E. Hornstein, 60, an account representative with Sonoco Baker Division, died March 23, 2007. Born in Germany, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in education and served in the Army in Germany from 1967 to 1969. Prior to joining Sonoco Baker, he had taught English in the Maryland School System from 1971 through 1979 and had owned and operated a pub for six years. Survivors include his wife, Terry, and a son, Dr. Russell Hornstein.

MAY 2007 25

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Fiber Watch Alcatel-Lucent awarded EASSy contract for East Africa Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has signed a turnkey contract with the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) consortium to lay the first ever optical submarine cable network landing in East Africa.

The EASSy submarine network will span nearly 10,000 km. linking eight countries from Sudan to South Africa, via Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Landings will be located in Port Sudan, Djibouti (Djibouti), Mogadishu (Somalia) Mombasa (Kenya), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Toliary (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mtunzini (South Africa), a press release said.

EASSy is a project set up by 22 licensed telecommunications operators in the Eastern and Southern African region and a few international carriers. By interconnecting with Sea-Me-We 3, Sea-Me-We 4, SAS1, Falcon and SAT3/ WASC /SAFE, it noted, the EASSy submarine cable system

will also serve as a supporting infrastructure for these networks.

The EASSy submarine network is scheduled for completion the end of 2008, at which time it will deliver a regional capacity of 320 Gbit/s, the release said.

That capacity will be used by governments, public administrations and businesses to leverage advanced technology to support new applications such as remote medical diagnosis and international call centers, it said, adding that consumers will benefit from accessible and affordable broadband Internet.

Based on Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine and terrestrial optical solutions, EASSy will provide connectivity across the continent to support the increase in local traffic from both traditional and new broadband services. Additionally, with interconnection to other submarine cable systems to the North and South, this project will provide an international gateway, crucial for the economic development of the region.

Botswana fiber project is launched The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has launched the Trans Kalahari fiber optic and SDH project, reports allafrica.com.

The project, which will require some 2,000 km of optical fiber and take up to 18 months to complete, has been described by the Minister of Communication Science and Technology, Pelonomi Venson Moitoi “as a dream come true” for the ICT sector as it will change the landscape of the ICT infrastructure in Botswana, the report said.

It noted that the three-part project is designed to provide high capacity, speed of information and data transmission; bridge the digital divide; and improve the local and international connectivity and overall service delivery.

The first part of the project will start in Jwaneng, going through Ghanzi, and terminating at Mamuno, connecting directly to Namibia, the report said. The second section starts in Ghanzi, going through 26 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Maun and ending in Orapa, while the last leg will run from Sebina through Nata, Kasane and end in Ngoma, it said, adding that the last section “will ensure onwards connectivity with Zambia and Namibia.”

The fiber project is necessary because telecom service providers currently depend on limited connectivity via expensive leased bandwidth on international cable and satellite systems, the report said. “This acts as a barrier to the development and growth of both the operators and the economy at large.” It added that the project “will extend to people living in the western and the remotest parts of the country that has been underserved in terms of high capacity telecommunications.”

Botswana, the report said, ranks 44 out of 102 countries in the world in terms of national connectivity, further emphasizing the competitiveness of ICT diffusion and the need to swiftly implement formal connectivity programs.

The Alcatel-Lucent submarine solution will be based on its 1620 Light Manager next-generation DWDM submarine platform, and will also include cables and submarine repeaters. Branching units will ensure direct connectivity to landing stations where Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC) for terrestrial interconnection. The Alcatel-Lucent 1350 management system will supervise all the equipment supplied. A comprehensive suite of professional services, including project management, engineering, marine operation, and installation testing and commissioning, is part of this turnkey project.

“Globalization of the economy and the Internet have enhanced communications, and submarine networks contribute greatly by connecting almost every corner in the world,” said Jean Godeluck, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network activity.

FTTX summits scheduled for June The Fiber Optic Association has scheduled two Summit meetings in New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions this June.

The FOA FTTx Summit provides information for installers, contractors and instructors who want to know more about FTTx technology, training and job opportunities. Presentations and displays by industry leaders and FTTx implementers/employers will allow attendees to learn from and meet the people involved.

The schedule is on June 12 at New Hampshire Technical College, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and on June 14 at West Chester College in the Philadelphia area. Further details can be found at the FOA website www.thefoa.org. ■

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Fastener Update Nifco to open fastener plant in Shelbyville, Kentucky Nifco Inc., a Japan-based manufacturer of plastic injection molded fasteners for the automotive industry, recently announced that Nifco North America plans to open a manufacturing facility in Shelbyville, Kentucky, the goal being to to better service their Japanese automobile manufacturers and their component suppliers located in North America.

The 43,000-sq-ft plant, which will cost about $15 million, will create about 150 new jobs, reported expansionmanagement.com. It will be located on 13.5 acres in the Hi Point Industrial Park, it said, adding that the company will also purchase new equipment. The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved Nifco, Inc. for tax benefits

up to $3,000,000 under the Kentucky Industrial Development Act, it said.

Nifco Inc., founded in 1967, notes that it has five production facilities in Japan and 22 facilities in 14 countries that in addition to the U.S., include China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

IFI enhances website with new search features and more The Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI) reports that it has introduced a new search feature on its web site during that will enable fastener distributors and end-users to find domestic fastener suppliers by fastener category and type.

Visitors to www.indfast.org can look to the left hand side of the home page, click

28 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

on the link entitled “Suppliers of fasteners,” which will bring up a page with blanks for “Company,” “Category” and “Type.” By typing in the name of a fastener company and clicking “Select” the company’s name and links to its e-mail address and web site come up, IFI said.

A site visitor seeking a supplier of a

given fastener can use the “Category” pull down menu to select one of 15 fastener categories, such as “Bolt,” or select from one of over 50 fastener types. A list of IFI member companies that supply a fastener category and type come up in a list with the company name and links to their e-mail address and their web site. ■

singepagetemp.qxp

12/1/2006

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Performance…consistency… quality standards…on-time delivery… …those should be givens…

It’s the experience of our people behind our dies that really makes the difference…

• Diamond Dies Natural Crystal, Synthetic Single Crystal, and Polycrystalline

• Tungsten Carbide Dies New T.C. dies with complete recutting service

• Hands-on Training for Die Personnel Precutting inspection; Cutting, polishing and sizing dies; Final inspection of finished dies

CONTINUING OUR HERITAGE …with over 150 years of combined experience: Chris Hoffman

Jon Fuhrman

Gilbert Hoffman Consultant

Otto Fuhrman Consultant

WIRE DIE, INC.

Ph: 260/623-6151 • Fax: 260/623-2154 19825 Monroeville Road • Monroeville, IN 46773-0416 • email: heritage.wiredie@verizon.net

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4/25/2007

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WAI News Good host, instructor make for a solid workshop WAI and Phelps Dodge teamed up to produce a March 29-30 nonferrous workshop that drew more than three dozen attendees to El Paso, Texas, USA. The event, part of the WAI’s roadshow series, combined a full day seminar that was presented by Dr. Horace Pops, president of Horace Pops Consulting, Inc., and an extensive tour of Phelps Dodge’s El Paso Operations Center.

The seminar addressed six key areas: introduction and history of copper and wiredrawing; technology of electrical conductors, including requirements for magnet wire; basics of wiredrawing, including die design and analytical solutions and practices; annealing of nonferrous wire; wire breaks and surface issues, including failure analysis; and testing of rod and wire.

The attendees represented 14 different companies, with responsibilities ranging from process technician to general manager. Nearly half of the attendees were from local companies while the balance traveled from Monterrey, Mexico; Sidney; Nebreska, Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Warren, Ohio.

El Paso provides a convenient location for the event as the area including its Mexican neighbor, Ciudad Juarez, is a growing hub of nonferrous wire related operations.

The classroom portion of the workshop complemented the tour and support provided by Phelps Dodge.

Attendees were guided through Phelps Dodge’s wire rod operation that shares 500 acres with their refinery facility.

This up-close look at the continuous casting operation that produces 600 million tons of product annually was especially interesting as attendees were made aware of the many improvements over the 30 year operation and the challenges that remain.

One of the last stops on the tour was the acid reclamation and recycling operation, which went into service in 2005. Attendees were clearly 30 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

instruction as well as the thorough tour of Phelps Dodge.

“The program was an excellent opportunity to review principles of wire processing science as well as best practices from a very knowledgeable and skilled instructor,” commented Dr. Sergio Montes, materials engineering manager, Viakable.

“The attendees received terrific value and a great Phelps Dodge’s Karen Hamilton explains the movereturn on their investment,” ment of materials from the refinery to the rod mill to declared Antonio Ayala, (l-r) Sumi Wire’s Sergio Perez, Sandra Rojo and WAI’s 2nd vice president, Eduardo Martin. who was on hand to assist the numerous Spanish impressed with the silent system, the speaking attendees. “Phelps Dodge short payback and positive environwas very generous with their support mental impact. as they not only provided the tour, but “Phelps Dodge is passionate about they also participated in the classroom the education component of customer component and sponsored an evening service, so the idea of supporting the cocktail reception,” he said. event was a natural,” explained Karen Hamilton, quality assurance manager at Phelps Dodge, adding that “the company welcomed the chance to work with the highly regarded Dr. Pops and WAI.” The attendees rated the program very effective with high marks for both the educational Instructor Horace Pops sits as WAI Executive Director value and the quality of Steve Fetteroll speaks briefly to workshop attendees.

WAI contact info Name Steven J. Fetteroll, executive director David B. LaValley, treasurer Mark A. Marselli, editor-in-chief Charles H. (Chip) Marsh, membership director Marc Murray, education director Janice Swindells, director of marketing services Robert Xeller, director of sales

Phone e-mail 203-453-2777 sfetteroll@wirenet.org 203-453-0593 dlavalley@wirenet.org 203-453-7579 mmarselli@wirenet.org 203-453-1748 cmarsh@wirenet.org 203-453-2777 mmurray@wirenet.org 203-453-2777 ex.117 jswindells@wirenet.org 203-458-7578 bxeller@wirenet.org

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U.K. wire scholar chosen, will attend Interwire Hywel Gwyn Lewis, planning liaison manager for U.K.’s Caparo Wire, a division of Caparo Steel Products Inc., has been chosen as the 2007 Wire-Link Travelling Scholarship Scholar.

The scholar program is offered by The Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers and the WAI, which in alternate years send an industry representative overseas, where they tour wire and cable plants and get to see how others operate. As part of the award, Lewis, will attend Interwire

2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Lewis joined Caparo Wire in 2001 as cold heading sales planner, responsible for planning the production of cold heading wire (450 metric tons per week), used in the fastening industry.

In 2005, he was promoted to planning liaison manager, with added responsibilities for cold heading, bright and galvanized wire; integration and liaison with the company’s West Bromwich manufacturing facility; and responsibility for U.S. and China customers.

Lewis, who holds a BSc degree from Harper Adams University College, noted in his application for the scholarship that he is focused on finding ways to succeed and that he looks forward to this opportunity. “I believe that the Wire-Link Travelling Scholarship … would go far beyond presenting me with intellectual challenges, it would further develop my interpersonal skills, enhance my networking skills and balance my strong practical background.”.

WAI subsidiary launches quarterly publication for India WAI’s subsidiary in India, Wire and Cables Services Pvt. Ltd. (WCS), has launched a quarterly publication called WIRELINE, the first issue of which was mailed in April “The growing India wire industry faces both opportunities and challenges, and WCS and WAI want to help by keeping it abreast of the latest

news and developments,” said WCS Managing Director Anand Bhagwat, who noted that the growth is both organic and inorganic. “We want to provide a forum where people in the industry can read about what is going on,” he explained. “WIRELINE will also keep our members informed of WAI activities, chapter news, and

industry activities. It will be a supplement to our international publication, Wire Journal International, on a local level. In short, WIRELINE will be a conduit for linking the entire Indian wire industry.”

WIRELINE, which covers ferrous and nonferrous sectors, initially was mailed to about 750 people in India. ■

MAY 2007 31

HAMemberForm07TF.qxp

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M EMBERSHIP A PPLICATION Send application and payment to: THE WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL, INC. 1570 Boston Post Road, P.O. Box 578 • Guilford, Connecticut 06437-0578 • USA • Telephone: (001) 203-453-2777 • Fax: (001) 203-453-8384

4c, file name: HAmemForm03,

Individual Information LAST NAME

page 32

FIRST NAME

TITLE

M.I.

.

COMPANY

❏ BUSINESS OR ❏ HOME

ADDRESS

CITY OR TOWN

STATE

PHONE (include area code — when applicable include country and city code) E-MAIL ADDRESS

ZIP/POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

FAX (include area code — when applicable include country and city code)

[

] BIRTH DATE (MM/DD/YYYY)

Required to receive The WAI Connection member e-newsletter

Business Information (required)

GENDER (M/F)

REFERRED BY

A. Which ONE of the following best describes your company’s type of business?

WIRE MANUFACTURING FASTENERS, WIRE FORMING, FABRICATING 10 ❏ Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both ) 61 ❏ Fastener Manufacture 20 ❏ Copper & Copper Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 62 ❏ Four-Slide Forming 30 ❏ Steel & Steel Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 64 ❏ Hot and/or Cold Forming and Heading 40 ❏ Other Metal (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 66 ❏ Spring Manufacture 50 ❏ Electrical Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 68 ❏ Wire Cloth Mesh Screening 69 ❏ Other Forming and Fabricating (Please specify) 53 ❏ Communications Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 55 ❏ Fiber Optics SUPPLIER TO THE WIRE INDUSTRY 72 ❏ Machinery 74 ❏ Process 76 ❏ Accessories B. Which ONE of the following best describes your primary job function?

10 ❏ General & Administrative Management 30 ❏ Technical, Research & Development, Quality Control 20 ❏ Engineering, Operations, Production 40 ❏ Purchasing

:

WIRE END-USER 11 ❏ Appliance 12 ❏ Communications (Voice/Data) 13 ❏ Computer 14 ❏ Construction/Building 15 ❏ Electrical (Equipment/Components/Power) 16 ❏ Transportation/Vehicular 17 ❏ Wire Formed Durable Goods OTHER 80 ❏ Service Centers, Distributors & Warehouses 90 ❏ Consultants 92 ❏ Government, Library and allied 50 ❏ Sales & Marketing 90 ❏ Other (please specify)_________________________

C. As part of my membership, I wish to receive a free subscription to the Wire Journal International.

SIGNATURE (REQUIRED)

DATE

Student Membership — Available to students enrolled full-time in an institution for advanced education and who have an interest in the processes, techniques, and methods for the manufacture of wire. Dues waived with proof of enrollment.

INSTITUTION

..

GRADUATION DATE

Chapter Membership WAI Chapters provide additional networking and educational opportunities on a regional level. Please select appropriate chapter and complete dues line below. ❏ New England US ❏ Mid-South US ❏ Midwest US ❏ Ohio Valley US ❏ Southeast US ❏ Western US ❏ Poland ❏ India

❏ Italy

Membership Dues Calculation Membership Dues:

❏ One year: $95

SAVE! ❏ Two years: $175

MORE SAVINGS ❏ Three years: $255

Chapter Dues (indicate chapter above):

❏ First year: free

❏ Two years: $15

❏ Three years: $30

INDICATE AMOUNT:

NOTE:

Total Amount Enclosed Payment options:

CARD NUMBER

❏ Check

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.

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DATE

.

Your membership includes a free subscription to Wire Journal International. Please return this form by fax or mail for proper credit.

Reference Guide

NOTE: All checks must be in U.S. Dollars drawn on a U.S. bank. Credit card payments are preferred for members from outside the U.S. and Canada. If a check or credit card is not used, a wire transfer may be sent in U.S. dollars.

For instructions, contact the WAI Membership Department at membership@wirenet.org or by phone at (001) 203-453-2777.

Your membership dues may be deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense, not as a charitable contribution.

Membership in The Wire Association International, Inc. is held by the individual, not the company, and is continuous unless cancelled in writing. Membership is not transferable.

Dues are non-refundable and are billed annually based upon the member’s anniversary date. Annual dues are set by the WAI Board of Directors, and are subject to change.

May 07

International Technical

Conference Proceedings

chapter.qxp

4/20/2007

1:09 PM

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Chapter Corner Italy Chapter to hold its first meeting in June The newly approved Italy Chapter is set to hold their first meeting on June 14 in the Franciacorte region of Italy.

The meeting will be held in conjunction with the 20th anniversary celebration of the Italian Wire Machinery Manufacturers Association (ACIMAF).

The two groups, which have overlapping leadership, decided the high profile anniversary meeting of ACIMAF would be an appropriate time to introduce the chapter to the Italian wire

industry. The chapter is expected to work closely with the highly regarded ACIMAF in the early years in developing educational programs.

The meeting will be held at the Villa Antica Fratta in the Brescia province.

This beautiful region is located one hour driving distance north of Milan and an equal distance from Lake Garda and just 10 minutes from Lake Iseo. The Villa with centuries old wine cellars, reflects the region’s strong

connection to viticulture.

The initial chapter leadership is President Giulio Properzi, ContinuusProperzi; Vice President Andrea Camparada, SAMP SpA; Secretary Paola D’Oria, Continuus-Properzi; Treasurer Giovanni Lippolis and Director Ferruccio Bellina, TKT Group.

The Italy Chapter represents the ninth WAI chapter to be formed and the third outside of the U.S.

Midwest Chapter nears tee-time for 5th Annual Tourney It’s getting closer to last call for signing up for the WAI Midwest Chapter’s Fifth Annual Golf Tournament, to be held Friday, June 15, 2007, at the St. Andrews Golf &

Country Club in West Chicago, Illinois.

The cost is $110 and non-golfers can join in for the reception and dinner for only $35. The pdf registration form is

available online at the chapter’s webpage at wirenet.org. For more details, call WAI’s Chip Marsh at tel. 203453-1748 or send an e-mail to cmarsh@ wirenet.org. ■

MAY 2007 33

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Dies

ies may be one of the most single important elements of the drawing process but they are also likely among those most taken for granted.

Die suppliers in this feature were asked to reply to the following question: Aside from price, what sets your dies apart and what does your company do to provide added value? Several manufacturers also provided their thoughts on dies.

D

Ace American Wire Die USA Ace American combines innovative die design, drawing expertise, fast response time and quality material as well as a recutting service, an exceptional combination that has allowed it to be a great contender in the die industry. A die is one of the most critical components in the drawing process. First, there must be a partnership between three variables: material size, material grade and die geometry. Ace American’s customers have seen great changes in material offerings. Many times, material grade and size selections are limited. Our engineering team designs and manufactures dies to accommodate customer’s material parameters. We have introduced many different geometric configurations to assure success.

Beyond the aspect of die design, Ace American also has drawing expertise. We understand the different draw machines and lubricants and the

Dies from Ace American Wire Die.

34 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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effect they have on a customer’s finished product. We have over 20 years of drawing experience from keystone wire to shaped bar stock.

Working closely with reliable carbide suppliers, Ace American has a diverse inventory of carbide nibs so customers can be confident that we can meet unforeseen demands in a very short time. It is not unusual to be contacted by a customer in the morning and to be shipping the required dies that same afternoon. We offer a complete recutting service for both round and shaped dies offering greater die life to our customers. This leads to a satisfied clientele and a customer for life. Linda Hohl Conn, www.aawiredie.com.

Balloffet Die Corporation USA/France Balloffet Die’s expertise is based on producing all kinds of dies depending on application, but mostly multi-wire die sets. By using ultrasonic shaping machines, Balloffet ensures the same shape and internal geometry throughout the complete sets. After a few weeks or even months, the dies in the machines will start to wear. The most important factor is to make sure that they wear the same way to avoid

A manufacturer’s view WJI: How do you evaluate a die supplier? What die activities do you have handled outside?

We evaluate our die suppliers based on quality, on-time delivery and customer service. We will not go with a low-cost provider if the quality, delivery and customer service performance is below our expectation. Cost (equipment and labor) and consistent die quality are the major considerations that our plants use to justify internal versus external die maintenance. Die life and performance is evaluated on the basis of good production (lbs or tons) per recut as well as how many recuts on the die before it is scrapped. We prefer die suppliers to manage our dies (consignment) and help with die tracking.

Willingness to work with us to identify and implement die-related improvement opportunities is preferred.

Cornelius Muojekwu, Ph.D, metallurgical engineer Process Improvement Team General Cable Corporation

Die life, measured in pounds per die, is an important element in determining die material and the supplier. The immense benefits of an internal die shop outweigh the capital and labor costs. Algonquin manufactures a very diverse

Balloffet Die notes that it is the oldest American die manufacturer.

any wire breaks that could happen quickly by some dies produced using different methods (wire machines).

By checking the dies to the elongation of the machine, plus a few more percent on the die set to allow for the necessary “slip,” combined with Balloffet’s Ultimate drawing dies, Balloffet is best able to help wire manufacturers maximize their return on investment. Balloffet, the oldest American die manufacturer (1905), will strive in helping you master your die longevity. Richard Barthod or Bill Couse, balloffetdie@sbcglobal.net.

ESTEVES-DWD USA ESTEVES-DWD is a leading company for producing and refurbishing diamond and tungsten carbide tools for drawing and extrusion of all types of metallic wires. We have introduced organizational processes to achieve excellence in our products and services, basing its quality efforts on ISO 9001:2000 standard requirements. We seek to understand and satisfy customer needs, wishes and expectations. We are committed to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction. We also aim for continuous improvement of customer satisfaction. We engage in professional cooperation and friendly relationships with our cus-

Algonquin Industries’s Zach Hutchens. product line with tight tolerances and sells to markets that require short lead-times. The ability to create or modify a die in-house within hours is essential to our business model. Not all dies can be or are required to be cut/re-cut in-house.

Algonquin outsources conform and diamond dies with the expectation of high quality, short lead-times and a fair price.

Zach Hutchens Process Engineer, Osceola Plant Algonquin Industries

MAY 2007 35

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tomers and their employees. We provide our customers with technical and human resources to safeguard the quality objectives.

You may have noticed that the word “we” was used numerous times above. There is a good reason for that….we are a team at ESTEVES-DWD. We recognize that quality is the basis for all our activities and all employees contribute to achieving total customer satisfaction. ESTEVES-DWD’s management is totally committed to keeping employees satisfied and motivated.

People make up this organization and their satisfaction is the best guarantee for achieving customer satisfaction. We will accomplish

A sampling of dies from Fort Waye Wire Die, Inc.

ESTEVES-DWD employees at the company’s plant in Decatur, Indiana.

this through proper training and the promotion of “teamwork.” We also strive to develop strategic and mutually beneficial relationships with our suppliers, to the extent possible, to more effectively serve our customers.

Our mission statement spells it out: to develop, produce and market the best wire drawing products in the world; to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction with our products, along with personalized and customized service; to introduce new products and services which meet or exceed our customer’s needs and goals; to be competitive in our market, while continuously improving overall quality, productivity and profitability; and to form superior and lasting partnerships with our customers. Steve Marcum, smarcum@esteves-dwd-us.com.

Fort Wayne Wire Die, Inc. (FWWD) USA Consistent. Reliable. Uniform. We believe those characteristics set our dies apart from others. The infrastructure of our diamond wire dies is extremely important. Utmost care is taken in the selection of diamond stones, in the stone orientation, and mounting of the die.

Standardized operating procedures at our multi-plant locations keep the production of our profiles consistent. Utilizing an internally developed contact measurement system to check hole size minimizes errors and provides repeatability from die to die. Process development engineers continually improve processes to meet the demands of our customers. ISO 9001-2000 quality assurance systems are in place to assure continuity in product consistency.

We offer a wide variety of engineering services from designing multiwire sets or shaped die sets to providing consultations on

36 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

which die materials are best to use when various types of wire materials are being drawn. Die management plans can also be developed with advice given on how often to change out sets in the drawing machine and what to recut with the goal of optimizing efficiency while lowering operating costs.

Customers today are becoming more unique and challenging in their specific requirements when looking for a wire die supplier. At FWWD, we offer a complete product line including single crystal diamond, PCD and tungsten carbide wiredrawing and more. We are able to draw on our deep resources worldwide in sales, engineering, quality assurance and manufacturing to assist customers throughout the complete purchasing and use cycle of our products. All of our manufacturing plants use the same equipment, processes and internally developed measurement equipment in production so no matter where our product is made, a FWWD wire die is consistently the same the world over. Don Bieberich/John Downey, www.fwwd.com.

Imperial Wire Die Corp. USA In this competitive global market it is very important to set yourself apart from the rest of the field. We are well aware of the importance of selling a product so obviously critical to the success of wiredrawing. Our experienced sales team always tries to find out more about the individual drawing practices of our customers to aid with the choice for the right die specifications.

Every drawing practice is different and needs to be fitted with the right tool. Imperial Wire Die provides tungsten carbide dies (rough core and finished), PCD dies, natural diamond dies and unilpat diamond powders and compounds as well as recutting services for all round dies. We do not manufacture a “universal” die. We do not cast and finish dies by the thousands to fill all wiredrawing practices. What we do is manufacture according to the customer’s needs.

Our customers can count on our experienced sales and manufacturing team to provide continuous customer support well past the shipping date of an order. We are a small enough company to provide individual service and large enough to accommodate most wire mill’s requests. Ingrid Cromptom, imperialw@aol.com.

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Koner SpA Italy Koner understands that lubrication is a crucial factor for drawing quality wire. To ensure uninterrupted lubrication, it has developed the K.340 pressure drawing die (patented worldwide), specially constructed to greatly improve lubrication in dry drawing of steel wire. The drawing tool has three parts: two with an indefinite life (steel casing and the tungsten carbide pressure die) and one part subject to wear tungsten carbide drawing nob) that is easily and rapidly replaceable. This technology, which can improve both wet and dry drawing, can increase nib life by 30 percent and reduce overall costs by as much as 40 percent as you only change the nib, not the entire die. It even saves money on transport as the nibs do not have to be bought in a heavy steel casing. tktgroup@tin.it.

Mikrotek Machines Ltd. India The die is the heart of wiredrawing. A good die ensures perfectly round and bright finish wire. It should have a long life and be able to be recut many times to ensure more wire produced per die and increased profits. Mikrotek carefully studies customer requirements such as material drawn, speed of drawing, tolerance and surface fin-

Assorted dies from India’s Mikrotek Machines Ltd.

ish required then selects the appropriate PCD blank and right quality and size of natural diamond and designs the appropriate die profile. Our production department is well equipped with latest automatic machines and testing equipment to ensure accurate profiles and mirror polish on the dies.

One Mikrotek customer that draws stainless steel wire had been having problems with his die supplier. We studied the application and suggested a different blank and different profile. The customer tried our dies on a trial basis and was astonished to see the quality of the wire and the die life. Further, their die costs went down substantially. With a technical team of more than 150 people, Mikrotek, India’s largest die manufacturer, understands that customers generally concentrate on the wiredrawing process and do not give much attention to dies. That is why we will provide value-added services by educating customer personnel on maintenance and usage of dies, possible ways of increasing the production without stopping the production and periodical maintenance of the dies.

An OEM supplier to many machinery companies and an expert in multi-wire drawing, Mikrotek provide PCD dies, natural diamond dies, mono dies, tungsten carbide dies, solid enameling dies

Mittal Canada Lachine Joins the Energy Savers’ Circle Hydro-Québec is proud to draw attention to the exceptional energy efficiency of Mittal Canada Lachine.

Mittal Canada Lachine has made its mark by cutting electricity consumption by 5% through the use of more powerful anodes in the electrolysis process and more energy-efficient equipment. It carried out these projects under Hydro-Québec energy conservation programs for major customers.

The Energy Savers’ Circle recognizes large companies that are proactive in the field of energy efficiency and have reduced their electricity consumption by at least 5% or saved at least 50 GWh per year. www.hydroquebec.com/majorcustomers/ee

MAY 2007 37

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with TC and PCD inserts, die polishing equipment, measuring pin sets and diamond powder and paste as well as die reconditioning and refurbishing services. Anitha Kamal, mmmmm@vsnl.com, www.mikrotek.org.

Paramount Die Company USA Paramount Die was founded in 1968 by brothers Doug and Gil Sarver and is today the world’s largest producer of carbide wire dies for the ferrous wire drawing industry. Building on the success of the carbide drawing insert and the ParaLoc pressure system, Paramount has grown by more than 300% in the past 10 years and now exports more than 50% of its products to over 45 countries.

In our travels we often see two different wire mills producing the same product with basically the same machinery but getting very different results. It is our job to investigate why this is and help the customer find solutions to improve productivity and get more tons of wire out the door. While there are often many factors at play, the most critical factors are normally related to the quality of the incoming rod, the effectiveness of the drawing lubricants and, last but not least, the performance of the wire dies. Aside from suggestions related to rod pre-treatment, there is not much that Paramount can do about rod quality so we focus primarily on die performance and lubrication.

Selecting the appropriate die parameters and lubrication for the job is critically important in achieving higher productivity and can help to make the best of a bad situation when companies are forced

System Solutions Drives NADV Straighteners Rolls Guides Preformers

Paramount Die Company President Rich Sarver holding a tube of carbide inserts.

to draw less than ideal wire rod. Using high quality dies with the right specifications and the right lubricants is also the only way that wire drawers can maximize drawing speeds without significantly degrading die life. In today’s competitive market place wire drawers can ill afford to sit idle and tolerate less than optimal die performance. Paramount Die provides free consulting to wire drawers and can offer recommendations which may considerably improve wire drawing productivity. Richard Sarver, rsarver@paradie.com.

Precision Die Technologies (PDT) USA PDT understands its customers’ needs. Service is the heart of what we do as well as the most important value we deliver. Our customers need fast answers and faster solutions to meet their customers’ needs. Our commitment, as a partner, is to use our resources, knowledge and determined attitude to do whatever it takes to get the job done as soon as possible. We work together with our customers to understand their needs and help them achieve their goals. We are passionate about providing the fastest turnaround time possible. Our extensive inventory, streamlined production processes and committed team environment enables us to provide our customers quick delivery, even on a short notice.

At PDT, superior wiredrawing dies are ensured by strict international standards, continuous monitoring, and proven systems pro-

Advanced feeding units for material sizes up to 40 mm.

Are your feeding units powerful enough to transport large process material sizes safely?

The design of NADV feeding units allows a constant or an intermittent process material transport in close tolerances with forces up to 5 kN!

WITELS-ALBERT USA Ltd. Phone: 410 228 8383, FAX: 410 228 1813 info@witels-albert-usa.com, www.witels-albert-usa.com

Dies from Precision Die Technologies (PDT).

38 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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cessing. PDT is ISO 9001:2000 certified, a distinction that means precise consistent quality and outstanding service. All of our products, new and used, are 100% satisfaction guaranteed. We specialize in new, used, and re-cut services for natural diamond, PCD and monocrystalline dies.

We also provide shaped, stranding, enamel dies and insulating tips. Our broad range of services include our Inventory Management Program and Die Lease Program. Steve Marret, stevem@pdtinc.com.

Sanxin Wire Die, Inc. USA Die making is an ancient art. In recent times, particularly in manufacture of diamond and PCD dies, modern technology has refined this to the point where many factors have been taken out of “art” and placed squarely in “science,” but plenty of skill and experience is still required to determine in every case the best die for the job.

Sanxin is the largest manufacturer of PCD and ND dies in mainland China. It has very broad experience with many different brands and grades of PCD in many different applications. Further, due to its natural cost advantages, it can offer generous obligation-free trials for new and existing customers, thus eliminating risk from companies that want to see for themselves whether Sanxin can indeed provide a better solution to their wiredrawing challenges. Sanxin manufactures dies into stock for regular sizes and regular customers, reducing delivery lead times to a few days, rather than weeks.

If your plant is constrained by the monthly die budget (and isn’t

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Sanxin Wire Die President Doug Thornton doing field research on his company’s dies.

everyone in that position?), what matters most is that month after month, Sanxin enables you to put more high quality dies on the shelf in reserve, after the immediate production requirements have been met. Oh yes, and Sanxin can also supply dies at the global price. How attractive is the global price, anyway? Why not ask Sanxin for a quote?

On a sidenote, we can report that on the golf course we normally play Titleists and Top Flites, but when our customers told us the new Sanxin Fine Grain PCDs were drawing better than anything they’d ever seen, we decided to run a trial to see how they fared on the golf course. Could they go the distance? “Fair enough” was the verdict, “But if you don’t hit them just right, they slice just the same as Titleists and Top Flites.

They also put little dings in the face of your driver and you can’t stop them on the greens. We advise you to stick to golf balls on the green and Sanxins for wiredrawing.” Doug Thornton, www. sanxinamerica.com.

.079" to .256" copper/EC aluminium

WIRE RUSSIA STAND F09 All inquiries within North America for machines, spares and dies, contact: HUESTIS INDUSTRIAL 68 Buttonwood Street, Bristol, R. I. 02809 USA Tel: 401 253 5500 Fax: 401 253 7350 E-mail: sales@huestis.com www.huestis.com Pressure Welding Machines Ltd. Bethersden, Kent, England TN26 3DY Tel: +44 (0) 1233 820847.

Fax: +44 (0) 1233 820591.

E-mail: pwm@btinternet.com Website: www.pwmltd.co.uk MAY 2007 39

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Some dies should be (in) a moving experience The principle of rotating dies around wire while it is being drawn is not a new concept, but the technology has improved over the years and is worth further consideration, reports HOWAR Equipment’s Chris Hauer.

Advances have made the overall rotating die concept work more efficiently, said Hauer, who noted that the technology has the potential to increase die life fo some applications by at least 25 percent. The rotating die technology also offers fast pay-back and increased productivity though reduced die changes, scrap wire, machine down-time and labor and greater out-

SCOB Paul Schaaf GmbH & Co. Kg. Germany For nearly 80 years SCOB Paul Schaaf GmbH has delivered wiredrawing tooling and die working machinery to the wire industry. A family operated company, it has continued to grow and develop its manufacturing and service programs to serve the worldwide market.

Through acquisition and expansion in the period of 1997-1999, the company greatly enhanced its ability to serve customers worldwide through an enlarged high-tech production area and state-of-the-art design and development department. And now, SCOB announces the appointment of Morgan-Koch Corporation as its agent, servicing your tooling and die working machinery needs in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to the complete die working machinery and tooling programs including diamond dies, PCD dies, tungsten carbide dies, shaped TC and PCD dies, SCOB and Morgan-Koch offer the SCOB pressure die system. Pressure dies offer a proven way to lower produc-

Rotating die holder technology offered by HOWAR Equipment.

A range of dies offered by SCOB Paul Schaaf GmbH.

put. Improved designs, especially in die cooling, have made the use of a rotating die holder more practical, he said. The actual die rotates around the wire while it is being drawn down to size.

The die is continuously being cooled directly through a brass holder which holds the die and allows fresh water to cool the outside of the die.

Lubrication boxes are also provided to hold the dry or liquid lubricants. The units are available with fast or slow rotating mechanisms, and with many different sizes and types of lubrication boxes.

The rotating die holder technology has proven to be a great asset to many wiredrawing facilities as retrofit equipment, as well as for wire drawing machinery manufacturers who install the units as part of their original machines, Hauer said, noting that the units are available in various sizes that are mainly determined by the die casing and wire diameter and type being drawn.

For more details, contact Chris Hauer at sales@howarequipment.com.

40 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

tion costs through increased drawing speeds, improved machine uptime and consistency of wire quality. The pressure die holder places a tungsten carbide pressure nib and the actual drawing nib in a compact, leak-free unit, which greatly enhances the speed and accuracy of production changeovers. The lubricant pressure developed between the two nibs is regulated by selecting the size of the pressure nib opening relative to the incoming wire/rod diameter. The SCOB pressure die program includes the advanced SCOB pressure die holders as well as replacement tungsten carbide inserts for pressure dies. Silke Schaaf, s-c-o-b@t-online.de or Darryl Banks, darryl@morgan-koch.com.

Summit City Enterprises USA Today, all competent die producers have access to the same suppliers of raw materials such as diamonds, PCD and WC and all have access to modern production tools (lasers, EDM, ultrasonics, inspection devices). Summit City believes that one aspect of die production we emphasize that differentiates our products from most die suppliers is the super polish that we provide in PCD dies.

Common customer feedback is “the finest polish in the market today.”

We take extra multiple steps using diamond powder to very fine sizes to achieve the die finish, steps which some producers choose to reduce. The ultra fine polish yields better wire surface finish and delays the initiation of wear ring thus giving more

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that give customers a high-performance, long-lasting product that draws more pounds of wire per dollar. Further, our dies comes with the highest quality service.

We are building upon a 28-year reputation for product innovation, customization, “dock-to-stock” quality and ontime delivery. With our focus on product innovation we are committed to continued development of our PCD material.

Not only do we offer a high performing product now, we will continue to improve performance in the years to come. If a US Synthetic wire die doesn’t perform as expected, we’ll replace it for free. Joe Memmott, wiredie@ ussynthetic.com.

Summit City President Craig Martenson at Wire Expo 2006.

production per die. Craig Martenson, summittdie@aol.com, www.summitdie.com.

U.S. Synthetic Corp. USA At U.S. Synthetic, we are experts in sintering polycrystalline diamond for a variety of applications and are pleased to offer a full line of high-performance PCD dies. Each PCD blank is pressed in our proprietary diamond press at approximately 1,400°C and 1 million psi. The ability to press our own diamond allows us to control the process from beginning to end and ensure that the wire mill receives the highest quality die available. We finish a die to exact specifications

An assortment of dies from U.S. Synthetic Die Corp.

Temsa-Diamond Die Division, S.A. Spain When talking about diamond dies, could we use the very old sentence: “Nothing new under the sun”? Perhaps yes, but at Temsa-Diamond this is not an acceptable definition.

It is true that for many years no remarkable changes or improvements have been introduced to diamond die manufacturing. In fact, nothing special has happened since the last synthetic monocrystalline diamond stones were presented in the early 90s, or the “XXL” PCD blanks that are being continuously improved by some blank manufacturers. Beside some faster and more accurate drilling systems and using more automatic production equipment, we could say that diamond dies are basically being made the same as they were many years ago: drilling by means of laser, electrolysis

A diamond die from Spain’s Temsa-Diamond Die Division.

INSIDE June 2007

WIRE JOURNAL

®

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

INSIGHT:

Featuring: Lubricants and Filtration

Advertising in Wire Journal International’s (WJI) June issue is the smoothest, cleanest way to reach the world’s leading wiredrawers.

In fact, with digital delivery to WAI’s international members we’ve made it easier for WJI to circulate quickly and efficiently.

This is a prime chance to advertise. Don’t get caught in the trap of missing out. Contact Bob Xeller or Anna Bzowski on WJI’s sales staff for details.

Tel.: 001-203-453-2777 E-mail: bxeller@wirenet.org or abzowski@wirenet.org

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and EDM, and the use of ultrasonic and wire machines for grinding, polishing and calibrating diamond wiredrawing dies (natural, synthetic monocrystalline and PCD).

With so many large companies and multi-national groups moving to “low cost” countries, we are afraid that there will be a general tendency that purchasing considerations regarding top quality materials, reputed branded tools, long lifetime and outstanding performances will become secondary to only price and service, in that order. Therefore, service and capacity for providing appropriate technical support will mean, in future, an added value to a self-understood and expected top quality level for all our diamond wiredrawing dies. Besides that, important developments have been achieved at Temsa-Diamond for making “XXL” PCD dies for special applications, such as cable stranding and compacting and for copper and stainless steel tube calibrating.

Yes, at Temsa-Diamond, based in Cervelló, Barcelona, there is something new. And for sure, we are under the sun.

Jaime Cabrera, jcabrera@temsadiamond.com.

VCI Wire Die USA What sets VCI Wire Die’s new dies apart is our staunch commitment to excellence and our pride in manufacturing our product ourselves. Our product line includes new natural diamond dies, used natural dies, new PCD dies, used polycrystalline dies and recutting services. We have established our market presence by providing superior materials, the finest hand-crafted workmanship, stringent quality control and the best value available. We make our dies on site using the best raw materials available, maintaining proven orientation, mount and production processes, and keeping tight tolerances on angles and sizes. For customers, this translates to reliable delivery, trust in our product, less down time and lower wire cost.

Our recutting sevice is exceptional. We restore maximum die geometry for longer drawing time economically and quickly. We maintain customer recut inventory and release dies as they are needed to reduce our customer’s inventory cost. Die life is added value a die company must offer its customers. When customers buy our new dies and return them for each recutting, die life is increased substantially.

That is important but the best added value a die company

A sampling of dies from VCI Wire Die.

can offer their wire drawers is a productive, profitable partnership in higher quality, lower cost wire production. Every customer’s needs are specific and the ability to partner and answer those needs takes individual focus. VCI Wire Die will focus. The compliment we hear most often from our customers is how much they appreciate our willingness to work with them. Laura Killingsworth, laura@vciwiredie.com.

Woodburn Diamond Die, Inc. USA The state of the wire die industry in the U.S. today is as tough of a market as we have ever encountered due to pressure from abroad and also our declining wire market. To combat the notion that dies are a commodity product, we constantly work hand-in-hand with our customers to educate them on the fundamentals of wire dies and how the dies ultimately effect the customer’s daily production.

With this being our 50th anniversary in the industry, we are able to offer staff experience levels that allow for in-depth training skills to those new to the die labs in wire plants.

Indeed, die cost and quality are very important, and we must be competitive. The customer is also looking for continued daily support in making sure their machines are running efficiently with little worry on the tooling. We are constantly building die inventory programs, providing in-house evalua-

CONNECT WITH A WORLD OF WIRE & CABLE SOLUTIONS. RELY . ON THE LEADER. Headquartered in Northeast Ohio, no one provides the breadth of polymer solutions for the global wire & cable industry as PolyOne.

www.polyone.com t in

MAY 2007 43 org

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Photo Courtesy: Bruce S. Cridlebaugh, pghbridges.com

HAEXPOGenDates.qxp

It connects. It spans.

It supports and sustains.

It’s Wire Expo 2008.

It moves with the prevailing wind and allows wire and cable traffic to reach and explore another American marketplace.

In 2008 Wire Expo will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where more than 944 bridges in the surrounding area are known to link people and industry together.

Meet us for an expansive Wire Expo program June 7-11, 2008.

• Exhibits • Full Technical Program • Guest Speakers.

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June 7-11, 2008

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Pittsburgh • Pennsylvania David L. Lawrence Convention Center

Exhibit space goes on sale June 2007. Look for details in Wire Journal International or online at www.wirenet.org.

Wire Expo 2008 is organized by The Wire Association International, Inc. 1570 Boston Post Road • P.O. Box 578 • Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA Tel.: (001) 203-453-2777 • Fax: (001) 203-453-8384 • Web site: www.wirenet.org

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tions on die sets and helping the customer evaluate die drafts while recommending the proper die materials and profiles. In doing so, we create a more successful program for our customers and justify our stance that making any company profitable and efficient goes beyond simply Dies from Woodburn Diamond Die. looking for dies at the bargain store.

We have also been proactive to the foreign market challenges we saw coming years ago by integrating a wholly owned facility in Juarez, Mexico, and a jointly owned business, Walson Woodburn Wire Die, in Surat, India. Our goal is to supply top quality products and world class service to the world’s wire industry. Hopefully on our “75th” anniversary we will look back and confirm that the steps taken today have met our expectations. Rex Farver, www.woodburndd.com. ■

Work Where The Biggest Traffic Jam Is A Deer Crossing Here’s your chance to work at a place that’s an engineer’s dream and a nature lover’s paradise. Northwire is looking for design, manufacturing and quality engineers to join our team in Osceola, Wisconsin…on the banks of the scenic St. Croix River.

Northwire produces high-quality custom wire and cable products. The key to our success is meeting customer needs through problem-solving, solution-oriented engineering. This is how we keep growing when other companies are laying people off.

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1-800-468-1516 www.northwire.com/nature1

MAY 2007 45

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Tension straightening of a drawn superfine wire Controlling tension during the wiredrawing process was found to be effective in decreasing residual stress and improving straightness in superfine wire.

By Kazunari Yoshida, Kyotaro Sato, Tsutomu Yamashita, Huroyuki Sato, Eiji Matsunaga and Daiki Kato

here have been marked technological T advances in the field of information equipment, electronic equipment, precision machines and semiconductors and technology for fabricating high-quality superfine wires has been attracting more attention1.

However, the fabrication of high-quality wires with diameters of 20-30 μm or smaller is not easy2. Rigorous requirements, such as high dimensional accuracy, fatigue characteristics, straightness and torsion, must be satisfied for superfine wires used as saw wires and bonding wires. See Fig. 1.

In general, tensile residual stress is generated on the surface of drawn wires and high tensile residual stress causes problems such as a decrease in fatigue strength3. At the same time, market demand for lower processing costs has been increasing year by year. Although some researchers have studied the bending kinks and straightening of wires, several problems still remain to be solved4. The number of papers published on this subject thus far has been limited. Bent superfine wires have a direct effect on how much defective products are made by advanced equipment and on the increase in processing costs, both of which are key problems that must be solved.

In this study, changes in the straightness and the residual stress of drawn superfine wires of 20-30 μm diameter after tension straightening were examined both experimentally and by finite element analysis (FE analysis). Apparatuses for controlling the tension applied to the wire during tension straightening of superfine wires, called dancers, were designed, developed and

46 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

installed into both the wire-supplying part and the wire-winding part in the experiment.

In this study, relationships among tensile stress during cold and hot straightening, residual stress in the axial direction and improvement in the straightness of the wire were examined.

FE analysis for tension straightening Comparison of residual stresses obtained

by FE analysis and experimentally. The drawing process and tension straightening are analyzed by FE analysis. A slit method with a focused ion beam (FIB) was used to experimentally evaluate the residual stress in the axial direction.

FE wire analysis during drawing and during tension straightening. Wire bending in the drawn wires is caused by complicated factors such as the inclination and shape of the die, and drawing and winding conditions. For the first step of FE analysis, copper wire and stainless steel wire were drawn under the following conditions: die halfangle α = 6º, reduction Re = 20% and die inclination 1~2º. After drawing, residual stress, strain and bending of the drawn wires were examined. Then tension straightening of the drawn wires was done to examine the changes in residual stress and strain, and the improvement in straightness. See Fig. 2.

Tension straightening experiment. Drawn stainless steel superfine wire (SUS304 Cr18%-Ni8%-Fe) was used as a sample wire. Copper and gold superfine wires were used as reference wires. Table 1 summarizes the wire diameter and mechanical characteristics of the wires used in the experiment.

In Fig. 3, part A indicates the dancer roller that controls tension during tension straightening and B indicates the dancer roller that controls tension during winding of the wire.

The straightness of a wire subjected to cold straightening is defined using the wave amplitude h and the number of waves n as shown in Fig. 4(a). In tension annealing, since h and n are extremely small, the bend-

Fig. 1. Superfine wire for bonding of semiconductor.

Fig. 2. FEM models of drawing and straightening

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Fig. 3.Tensile straightening machine for fine drawn wire.

ing length after tension straightening, X, is used in the evaluation. X was evaluated assuming that the entire specimen wire is always 300 mm long. Position IV, shown in Fig. 3, on the wire was examined. The superfine wire was machined as shown in Fig. 5, using an FIB apparatus to measure residual stress in terms of the amount of opening, h. When tension annealing is carried out, a tube furnace, through which the wire is passed, is attached at position II.

Fig. 4. Measuring method for straightening.

greater is applied to the wire, the radius of curvature becomes large and the wire becomes almost straight. Fig. 9 shows the residual stress distribution of the copper wires after tension straightening. In general, a high tensile stress in the axial direction is

generated on the wire surface after drawing however, FE analysis results indicate that the tensile residual stress of the wire after tension straightening decreases and has a good value.

On the basis of the FE analysis results,

Experiment results, FE analysis Distribution of residual stress in wire after drawing. The residual stress in the axial direction on the surface of the drawn copper wires is examined by the slit method and FE analysis. See Fig. 6. Comparison of the results indicates that the tendencies observed experimentally and by FE analysis are similar under a total reduction (Rt) of up to approximately 30-40%5. However, for Rt of 50% or greater, the experimentally obtained residual stress slightly differs from that obtained by FE analysis.

Fig. 7 shows the residual stress distribution from the center to the surface of the drawn wires. It is tensile at the surface and compressive at the center. In the drawn wires with bending, the distribution of the residual stress is irregular, leading to a deterioration of the straightness of the drawn wires.

Straightness and residual stress of wires subjected to tension straightening. In FE analysis, several strain stresses were applied to the drawn wires to examine the changes in the radius of curvature, residual stress and equivalent strain. Fig. 8 shows the effect of the change in tensile strain on the radius of curvature during tension straightening.

When tensile strain is applied to the wire, the radius of curvature is considerably improved. When a tensile strain of 0.8% or

Yoshida

H. Sato

Yamashita

K. Sato

Matsunaga

Kazunari Yoshida is a professor of precision mechanics at the school of engineering at Tokai University, Japan. He conducts research into the process of wiredrawing, extrusion and forming. He served as a member of the steering Japanese Wire Drawing Committee. He earned a doctoral degree in engineering in 1982.

He wrote a prize-winning paper for the Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity in 1984 and won medal awards from the WAI for the best paper in the nonferrous division in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Kyotaro Sato is a graudate student at

Kato

Tokai University. At the time this paper was written, Tsutomu Yamashita was a graduate student of the mechanical engineering department at Tokai University.

Dr. Yamashita is now in the engineering department at Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K. Hiroyuki Sato is a graduate student at Tokai University. Eiji Matsunaga is a student at Tokai University. Daiki Kato is a graduate student at Tokai University.

This paper was presented at WAI’s 76th Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, May 2006.

MAY 2007 47

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Fig. 5. Measuring method for residual stress.

Fig. 6. Maximum residual stress of drawn wire by FE analysis and experiment.

Fig. 7. Distribution of residual stress of drawn wire.

Fig. 8. Radius of curvature of wire after tension straightening. applying an appropriate tensile strain to the wire is concluded to be effective for increasing the radius of curvature (i.e., alleviation of bending) and decreasing residual stress.

Relationship between die and wire bending in drawing superfine wires. Many factors, such as die inclination, difference in the lengths of upper and lower bearings and nonuniform coating of lubricant, can cause wire bending. FE analysis is used to examine wire that was bent during drawing while the die is inclined. A tough pitch copper wire (diameter = 0.5 mm, length = 800 mm) is drawn under the conditions of die half-angle ฮฑ = 6ยบ and reduction Re = 20%. Here, the die inclination was varied in the range of 1~5ยบ to examine the degree of bending of the obtained wire. See Fig. 10. Bending of the drawn wire results in a larger h with increasing die inclination. When tension straightening is carried out on such a bent 48 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Fig. 9. Nondimensional axial residual stress distributions by tension straightening.

wire by fixing one end of the wire (See Fig. 11), the degree of bending decreases due to tensile strain and the straightness of the wire increases.

Effect of tension straightening on straightness. To examine the superfine-wire straightening effect of tension straightening in which tension is applied to the wire by dancer A (see Fig. 3), the changes in the number of waves, n, and wave amplitude, h, are measured, as shown in Fig. 4(a). Fig. 12 shows the results of tension straightening of SUS304 superfine wires. The evaluation of the straightening effect was carried out at three positions, II~ IV (see Fig. 3) of the 800 mm long wires.

At position II, the straightness remains unchanged after the application of tension of approximately 30% or less of the tensile strength (2419 MPa). An improvement in straightness is observed when the applied

tension exceeds approximately 50% of the tensile strength. With a higher tension, a further improvement in straightness is observed upon applying tension almost equivalent to the tensile strength. The straightness of the wire improves markedly. However, when the wire is wound around a bobbin while the tension at the wire-supplying part is high, different bending occurs in the wire straightened by applying tension. Therefore, before winding the wire around the bobbin, wire should be passed through a dancer roller to reduce tension.

On the basis of the results discussed above, bending is removed and straightness is improved at position II by increasing tension. However, the application of excessive tension to such a wire leads to the generation of different bending at the dancer roller area, which remains even after the wire is wound around the bobbin.

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Fig. 10. Difference in amplitude by drawing process with inclination of die.

Fig. 11. Evaluation of tension straightening of drawn wire.

Fig. 13. Amplitude h of wire after tension straightening with various bobbin diameters.

Fig. 12. Relationship between wire straightening and tensile stresses in process.

Table 1. Wire diameter and mechnical characteristics of wire.

Fig. 14. Effect of tension annealing on wire straightening.

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Fig. 15. Photographs of bent wire by the slit method with FIB.

Effect of bobbin diameter used for wire winding. The bobbin diameter was varied to examine its effect on the straightness of the wire during winding. Three bobbin diameters d, 40 mm, 62 mm and 86 mm, were examined for SUS304 superfine wires with a 20 mm diameter to examine the wave amplitude h. The results are shown in Fig. 13. Before winding, the wires are subjected to tension straightening by applying the tension at which the greatest straightening effect was observed, and nominal tension is applied when the wires are wound around the bobbin.

The results indicate that the straightness obtained at position II deteriorates at position III. However, by increasing bobbin diameter, further deterioration of straightness is prevented when winding the wire around the bobbin. This result confirms that a larger bobbin diameter is more effective for maintaining the straightness of the wires.

Measurement of residual stress of superfine wires with a FIB. The improvement in the straightness of wires upon cold tension straightening has been confirmed.

However, in some cases, sufficient straightness may not be obtained by cold tension straightening. Therefore, the applicability of hot tension straightening is examined. An annealing apparatus is placed at position II shown in Fig.3, through which SUS304 wires with diameters of 20 mm or 25 mm were passed for tension annealing. Compared with cold tension straightening, the straightness of the wires subjected to tension annealing significantly increased (Fig. 14).

The percentage of tension that is most effective for increasing the straightness was confirmed to be approximately 80% of the breaking load.

Tension annealing was carried out using 20 mm drawn SUS304 wires and the resid-

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Fig. 16. Residual stress of wire after tension annealing with various temperatures.

ual stress of the wire after tension annealing was measured by the slit method with a FIB. Since residual stress exists in the wire, the wire warps if a slit is made in it (Fig. 15 (a)).

Fig. 15 (b) shows the results obtained when a wire was subjected to tension annealing while applying approximately 80% of the breaking load at 600ºC. Fig. 16 shows the residual stress measured by the slit method with a FIB. When residual stresses obtained by applying approximately 80% of the breaking load at annealing temperatures of 600ºC and 800ºC are compared, tension annealing at 800ºC is seen to be effective. In addition, by increasing the slit length L to fourfold the wire diameter or more, a relatively stable residual stress is obtained.

Conclusions The following findings were reached from the research that went into this paper: • It was clarified by FE analysis and experimentally that tension straightening is effective not only in improving straightness but also in decreasing the residual stress of a wire.

• Straightness is improved and residual stress is reduced after tension straightening.

• The relationship between the tension and straightness of the wire was clarified, and an appropriate tension range for obtaining a wire with a good straightness was demonstrated.

• A large-diameter bobbin used for winding a wire subjected to tension annealing is effective in improving the straightness of the wire.

• By tension annealing, a good straight-

ness, which cannot be obtained by cold strengthening, was obtained.

• It was demonstrated that qualitative evaluation of residual stress in a superfine wire is possible by the slit method with a FIB. References 1. K.Yoshida, “Tension straightening of drawn fine copper wire,” Proceedings of 43rd Conference on Copper Technology, 2003, pp. 45-46.

2. K.Yoshida and H.Satoh, “Tensionstraightening of drawn superfine wire,” Proceedings on Plasticity and Processing, 2003, pp. 97-98.

3. M. Asakawa, Plasticity and Processing, 39-447, 1998, pp. 338-341.

4. The Japan Society of Technology forPlasticity: Straightening Processing, 1992, 164,Corona Publishing Co., Ltd. 5. A. Nakagiri et al., “Behavior of residual stress and drawing stress in conical-type die and circle-type die drawing by FEM simulation and experiment,” Conference Proceedings, Wire & Cable Technical Symposium (WCTS), 2000, pp. 83-92. ■

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Pickling acid management – more than just recovery A complete management approach to chemical acid pickling that addresses key variables can provide significant efficiencies and subsequent savings for pickling stainless steel wire.

By William Gower

I n the production of stainless steels,

“pickling” is a term to describe the process whereby the metal-oxide surface scale and the underlying chromium-depleted layer of hot worked or annealed stainless steel is removed to expose substrate metal by a chemical means. A more operational definition of pickling is that of a complex series of processes that may include both mechanical and chemical treatments, typically immersion in solutions of hot, concentrated mineral acids.

In modern pickling operations, one unfortunate reality of acid pickling is that the solution has a finite life. Over time, the effectiveness of the pickling solution diminishes as acid(s) in the solution are consumed and the concentration of insoluble metal-oxides and dissolved acid-metal salts increase to a point where the solution must be discarded. This material, commonly referred to as “waste pickling acid,” “spent acid” or “waste pickle liquor,” describe the same problem: a highly

Fig. 1. Recirculation rate and pickling time for hot rolled AISI 304.

acidic liquid waste with significant economic and potential environmental liability.

Technology for the recovery of spent pickling acids has been commercialized with varying degrees of success. While the separation of contaminant acidmetal salts from the waste pickling liquor and the return of purified acid to the pickling process has significant operating cost and environmental advantages1, it only treats the symptoms, not the disease, and comprises

Fig. 2. Recirculation rate and pickling time for hot rolled AISI 430.

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Fig. 4. Predominant metal-flouride species and temperature.

Fig. 3. Increase in ppmv of NOx due to improper agitation of mixed acid pickling bath.

only a part of a comprehensive approach for waste pickling liquor management. Complete optimization of the pickling process begins by addressing the key parameters that govern the effectiveness and efficiency of pickling.

Adopting a comprehensive management approach ensures the adoptee of operational benefits far greater than what can be achieved via an acid recovery system alone.

Chemical pickling Chemical pickling may be divided into treatments with two functions. Preliminary pickling treatments are those defined as removing, partly removing or conditioning the oxide scale layer to facilitate its removal by final pickling.

In the case of hot-worked material, preliminary pickling treatments involve the use of single acids, such as H 2 SO 4, singly, or in conjunction with a mechanical or other physical-chemical treatment. Final pickling treatments are those defined as removing the residual oxide scale and chromium depleted layer. The goal of a final pickling treatment is to expose the base metal substrate prior to further working, i.e. cold working, or final sale. Solutions of HNO3 and HF, i.e. “mixed” – acid are the most common treatment used for final pickling of stainless steels, superalloys, as well as products of titanium, zirconium and hafnium.

The function of acid(s) in the pickling

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process is to increase the solubility of the surface metal-oxide scale, or, as in the case of mixed acid, as a dissolution agent of the chromium-depleted layer.

The products of chemical pickling include the formation of gas, free metals and soluble and insoluble metal-acid salts. In addition, the solution also contains undissolved metal-oxide scales of iron and chromium and a significant concentration of free acids.

Dissolved metal and acid concentration, circulation rate, temperature and time are all key parameters that have a direct influence on the efficiency of the pickling mechanism. Suspended solids do not have a direct influence on pickling, but can significantly impact the productivity of a pickling line, and therefore also must be addressed.

Understanding and optimizing the key parameters is essential to a well managed pickling process, and necessary in order to achieve the highest quality surface finish at the highest throughput, lowest specific consumption of acids and lowest base metal loss.

While this paper focuses on final HNO 3 /HF mixed acid pickling, the identified parameters are valid for all pickling processes.

Effect of acid concentration In mixed acid pickling, HNO3 and HF each have a distinct function and operate, surprisingly, with little synergistic effect. HNO3 acts as a generator

of H+ ions, lowers the redox potential of the solution and is an oxidizing agent of the base metal. HF complexes free metals, stabilizes the redox potential of the solution and is a depassivator of the NO2xFey type ferric nitrosyl film that forms at the metal-acid interface2.

Studies examining the pickling rate of AISI 304, 316 and 416 stainless steel found that for austenitic materials, pickling rates increase proportional to HF concentrations up to 4 molar, irrespective of the HNO3 concentrations above 2 molar3-4. For ferritic materials, pickling rate increases with HF and HNO3 concentrations from 2 to 8 molar4. Due to the relative ease in which ferritic stainless steels are pickled, ferritic materials are finished in less concentrated mixed acid solutions than those used for finishing austenitic materials.

Effect of metal concentration The effect of metals in chemical pickling solutions is well understood. In general, as metal concentration increases, the pickling rate decreases. In mixed

William Gower is a senior consultant and technical specialist for Scanacon AB, Sweden, where is has worked since 2002. Previously he was a steel industry representative with GE-Betz. He holds a B.Sc degree from the University of Guelph, Canada. This paper was presented at WAI’s 76th Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, May 2006.

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acid pickling, iron has the greatest inhibiting effect on the dissolution rate, followed by chromium3. In the case of austenitic materials, dissolved nickel concentration has very little effect on metal dissolution. The mechanism proposed for the reduction in pickling rate by dissolved metals is due to the formation of iron and chromium fluorides, and a decrease in the available fluoride for pickling. Stability constants for the soluble metal-fluoride salt FeF 2+ (1.5e5), CrF2+(2.3e4) and NiF+ (6.3), follow the same order has their effectiveness as inhibitors5.

In “nitric free” final pickling solutions, such as HF-H2SO4-H2O2, authors have reported that ferric iron (Fe +3) concentration has a significant impact on base metal loss of AISI 316, and will decrease the metal loss rate by 13x when the concentration of ferric iron is increased above 20 g/L. Conversely, decomposition of p-toluene sulphonic acid (PTSA) stabilized H2O2 increased significantly in pickling solutions when the concentration of ferric iron increased above 20 g/L6.

Agitation The rate of circulation within a mixed acid tank has a direct influence on the pickling time of both austenitic and ferritic stainless steels. In field trials, pickling time for hot worked and annealed

AISI304 and AISI430 stainless was determined at various degrees of agitation. The trials concluded that pickling time for AISI304 and AISI430 decreased 20% and 41%, respectively, when the circulation rate in the pickling tank increased to a threshold of 30 volumes per hour7. After 30 volumes per hour, there was a negligible decrease in pickling time. Figs. 1 and 2 show the study results.

Some researchers have proposed that the effect of agitation on pickling time is due to a result of the disruption of the passive NO2xFey type ferric nitrosyl film that forms at the metal-acid interface2. By disrupting this passive film through continuous agitation, fresh acids are made available to the surface of the metal, and pickling continues unabated.

Effect of temperature Temperature is a unit of measurement that describes and is proportional to the average kinetic energy present in a system. In the case of pickling, the influence of temperature manifests itself in a number of ways, particularly in pickling time, gaseous acid loss and dissolved metal solubility.

Field trials have demonstrated that the pickling rate of hot worked and annealed austenitic wire approximately doubles for a mixed pickling bath com-

Fig. 5. Particle size distribution in H2SO4 Process — recirculation and settling tank.

prised of 2.5 molar HNO3 and 2 molar HF when the temperature of the solution is increased from 40oC to 60oC. This observation correlates well with experimental work conducted on AISI 304, which found that for a solution of 1.5 molar HNO3 and 1.5 molar HF, the dissolution rate increased 60% when the temperature of th e solution was increased from 50 to 70oC3.

In practice, most mixed acid processes operate at a “sweet spot” between 45oC to 65oC. Due to the low vapor pressure of HF acid, increasing the temperature of the process above 65oC is not recommended in mixed acid pickling as gaseous HF loss increases dramatically.

The managed pickling process To a stainless steel finisher, the realities of continuous variations in dissolved metal and acid concentrations are multiple: continuous variations in pickling time and surface finish quality, and, if the concentration of dissolved metals reach a threshold, increased acid consumption and the precipitation of insoluble metal-fluorides as sludge.

Over time, this accumulated sludge causes productivity, maintenance and product quality problems.

Process bath dumping, either full, partial or continuous bleed, has been one method of controlling dissolved metals and suspended solids in a pickling bath.

This practice – akin to tossing the baby with the bathwater – results in a significant loss of valuable acids. In uncontrolled pickling operations where process bath dumping is used to control dissolved metals, up to 60% of the total HNO3 and between 35-40% of the total HF consumed in the pickling process are potentially recoverable. Commercial technology based on the principal of ion retardation, diffusion dialysis or electrodialysis to reclaim these useful acids are available. Despite the misnomer, “acid recovery” systems are, in reality, metal removal systems, whose primary function is to maintain dissolved metals at a consistent concentration.

Systems based on the principal of ion retardation have enjoyed the widest degree of commercial success. Productivity improvements through the use of ion-retardation systems have been documented, and include reducing the labor and production time associated with

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dumping, cleaning and reformulating pickling baths1.

Some authors have reported that through the use of an acid recovery system, the formation of pickling sludge can be dramatically reduced1. In actuality, the use of an acid recovery system reduces only the insoluble metal-fluoride component of the sludge through dissolved metal control. In a well-managed acid pickling line where metal control/acid recovery is used, the predominant contributor to the formation of sludge is the insoluble metal-oxides.

Despite the obvious economic and production benefits offered by the use of an ion retardation system, it is important to distinguish between the benefits achieved through metal control and an optimized pickling process that addresses acid concentration, removal of suspended solids, agitation and temperature and defines specific control ranges for those parameters.

Control of free acid concentrations In the mixed acid process HNO3 acid is continuously lost from the process through the formation of NOx gas (approx. 30% of the total) and via dragout to the rinses (5-10%). HF is continuously consumed through the formation of metal-fluorides (40-50%), waste gas (5-7%) and drag-out to rinses (510%).In a unmanaged pickling process, approximately 60-65% HNO3 and 4045% HF acid is lost to dumping, and is potentially recoverable by ion retardation.” Despite the recovery efficiency offered by ion retardation equipment – between 70-75% metal rejection and 90-95% free acid recovery – continuous acid additions are necessary to maintain the pickling bath within a specific acid concentration range.

As acid concentrations have a pronounced effect on pickling rate, acid consumption and finish quality, it is necessary to understand the relationship between acid concentration and pickling rate for a given material and defining control ranges for acid concentrations where an acceptable surface finish can be achieved with the lowest base metal loss. In addition, as improperly timed acid additions (particularly HF additions) can produce undesirable effects such as precipitation of metal fluorides

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when the dissolved metal concentration is outside the specified control limit, knowing “when” to add acid is just as important as “how much” in a properly managed pickling process.

Insight into the composition of a pickling tank can only be achieved though monitoring, which requires that an analysis of the pickling liquor for free acids and total metals be performed.

Traditionally, gravimetry and volumetry – i.e. titration – formed the basis of analytical determinations of acids and metals in pickling baths. In volumetric analysis, an aliquot of the analyte of known volume is titrated with a solution of known concentration to the equivalence point. The equivalence point (the point at which the stoichiometric amounts of analyte and reagent are present to complete the reaction) is monitored visually.

The basis of volumetry relies on the fact that the reaction between analyte and reagent is specific, and that the visual endpoint is close to the stoichiometric equivalence point, and as such is an indirect method of analysis. Unfortunately, volumetric analysis of pickling solutions – particularly mixed acid solutions – is inherently inaccurate due to the multiple acids and various metalacid salts present in the solution. In addition, it is labor intensive, slow to perform and is not amenable to batch or automated operation8.

The preferred analysis method of pickling solutions is via the direct measurement of free H + and F - anions, combined with a density determination.

In this method, free proton (H+) and free fluoride (F-) ions are directly measured by specially designed ion selective electrodes (ISE). A microprocessor then determines the concentrations of free nitric and hydrofluoric acid via a complex algorithm. Once the concentrations of acids are known, the concentration of metals is determined by the difference in density between the actual value of the solution minus the calculated density contributed by the acids.

When compared to volumetric analysis, the ISE and density method has significant advantages, including better accuracy, speed of determination and the ease of which an analysis can be performed. Additionally, as the method measures free acid in solution, the microprocessor can calculate – and in

some instances perform – the actions necessary to bring the pickling bath into control, i.e. acid addition, volume adjustment of the process bath and/or initiate or stop the recovery system.

Agitation As mentioned previously, agitation rate can effectively reduce the immersion time necessary to achieve an acceptable pickled surface. When agitation is included as part of the overall pickling management strategy, significant production throughput can be achieved, in addition to maintaining the suspended solids in suspension, thus facilitating their removal from the process via filtration.

Implementation of agitation in a pickling process tank (bath) is best accomplished by a high-flow circulation system utilizing a series of inductor nozzles. The design of such a system must ensure high turbulent flow is maintained within the bath and that acid is evenly distributed across the entire surface of the material without agitating the surface. In a mixed acid solution NOx is present as a dissolved gas - if care is not taken to limit the influx of air into the pickling solution, NOx will be displaced into the atmosphere.

Fig. 3 demonstrates the effect of sparging compressed air into a mixed pickling bath in order to induce agitation. The practice is not recommended.

This is of particular importance in open pickling tanks such as those found in rod and wire pickling lines.

Control of temperature Maintaining consistent temperature in the process bath is necessary to avoid process fluctuations that have a detrimental affect on pickling, including increased base-metal loss, unnecessary acid consumption and increased acid loss through evaporation. In the case of ferritic materials, cooling the process bath may be necessary to avoid temperature excursions due to the exothermic nature of the pickling reaction.

Temperature plays an important role with respect to metal solubility. As the temperature of the pickling bath is decreased, the species of metal-fluoride ions shift to favor the formation of insoluble phases. Temperature and metal solubility is of practical impor-

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tance in stainless steel pickling – in short, if the pickling acid is cooled, precipitation of metal-fluorides (and the subsequent increase in HF consumption) occurs. Fig. 4 shows the predominant metal-fluoride species and temperature.

Cooling the acid should be avoided whenever possible. When selecting an appropriate acid recovery system, systems that require that the acid be cooled prior to recovery should be avoided.

Studies have shown that a recovery system that can operate at process temperatures (i.e. 60-65oC) has an operating cost advantage of 24 to 40% over one that has a lower operating temperature threshold (i.e. 32-40oC)9.

Control of suspended solids In stainless steel finishing, an acceptable chemically pickled surface can only be achieved by completely removing the oxide scale layer and chromiumdepleted layer. However, total dissolution of the oxide layer is unimportant to the efficiency of final pickling; rather it is only necessary that the oxide layer be sufficiently disrupted to allow removal of the chromium-depleted layer10. It has been estimated that 10-15% of the total mass of oxide scale remain undissolved in the mixed acid solution11. Surveys of mixed acid pickling liquors from hot rolled annealing and pickling lines in Europe and Japan demonstrated that solids in suspension ranged from 5 – 60 g/L. When measured in an Imhoff funnel, these liquors have a sludge volume of 2 – 22 mL/L12.

Sludge composition from mixed acid (HNO3/HF) stainless pickling liquors is not well documented, but the major constituents have been identified. Compounds present in mixed acid sludge can be divided into two groups: the insoluble metal-fluorides FeF3⋅3H2O, (Fe⋅Cr)F3⋅3H2O and NiF213-14 and the insoluble metal-oxides FeO, Fe 3 O 4 , Cr2O3, Fe2O3 and (Fe⋅Cr)3O4 spinel15.

For austenitic steels, some researchers have noted that additional complex oxides such NiFe2O4 may be present16.

Due to the inefficiency of oxide scale dissolution in mixed acid final pickling, one unfortunate reality faced by modern pickling lines is the build up of this insoluble metal-oxide material. Commonly referred to as pickling “sludge,”

if not removed, this sludge accumulates in the pickling tanks, recirculation system, process piping and, in some cases, on the stainless material itself. If there is no provision in the design of the pickling line to facilitate the removal of sludge, productivity, maintenance and product quality problems can result.

Removal of suspended solids in a pickling bath presents a special challenge. Control strategies include technology that utilizes: “settling,” i.e. sedimentation tanks or lamella-type separators; depth filtration, i.e. sand or mixed media filters; or surface filtration, i.e. microfilters or filterpress.

When employed as a solids control strategy, sedimentation tanks and lamella-type separators are simple to implement but are at a disadvantage due to physical size, speed of operation and efficiency. As the Stokes law governs the rate of setting of particles in a liquid medium, sedimentation tanks and separators are at a particular disadvantage when operating on acid circuits where the particle size of the solids are small, and the density of the liquid medium is high – conditions typical of H2SO4 preliminary pickling. In a study conducted to access the efficiency of solids removal by setting tanks on a H2SO4 process, it was found that less than 38% of particles greater than 4 microns, and less than 30% of particles less than 2 microns, were removed by settling. See Fig. 5.

The use of a filtration apparatus based on depth filtration, such as sand or mixed media filters, become impractical due to the large filtration area required to process such liquors at high flow. In addition, the water requirement for cleaning (backwashing) the media is significant and contributes significantly to the load at the wastewater treatment plant. Filtration systems based on surface filtration offer many advantages over both settling and depth filtration systems, but careful system design is necessary to avoid premature blinding and damage to the membrane elements.

One widely accepted commercial filtration apparatus uses a combination of both hydro-cyclones (sedimentation) and cross-flow membrane filtration operating in parallel, which allows the system to operate on process streams where the level of suspended solids

would blind and damage a conventional microfilter design. The mentioned system can operate on both mixed acid and single acid process streams.

Case study A 40,000 t/yr stainless wire producer in Europe, prior to adopting an acid management strategy that included Scanacon equipment for continuous filtration, metal removal and controlled acid dosing, had specific acid consumptions averaging 17.8 kg HNO3 (100% basis) and 7.88 kg HF (100% basis) per metric ton of production, respectively.

Base metal losses due to uncontrolled pickling averaged 9.1 kg/mt, due partly to the manner in which acid concentrations were controlled. Final pickling times varied depending on the material processed and preliminary pickling treatment used. Hot rolled and annealed material followed pre-treatment schedule of alternating reduced salt bath and H2SO4 pickling, followed by immersion in mixed acid for 24-32 minutes. Hot rolled, non-annealed material followed a similar pre-treatment schedule with immersion times in mixed acid for up to 42 minutes. Both hot-rolled annealed and non-annealed material were process ed on a batch pickling line comprising four tanks, with the following chemistry: Tank 1 - 2.5 molar HNO3 and 3.0 molar HF, Tanks 2-4 - 2.0 molar HNO3 and 2.5 molar.

Using a Scanacon SA30 “Acid Manager,” studies evaluating base metal loss with acid concentration were conducted in an effort to reduce unnecessary base metal and optimize acid concentrations. Through a series of trials, acid concentrations, temperature and immersion times were optimized, resulting in a net reduction of 4.7 kg HNO3 (100% basis) and 2.2 kg HF (100% basis) acid per mt. With new acid concentrations and temperatures optimized, pickling time was reduced between 25-40%, and base metal losses reduced by 40 to 60%, at an average of 7.4 kg/mt. Additional benefits included a consistent, reproducible and improved surface quality and the elimination of temperature excursions in the initial mixed acid tank that were a result of the aggressive acid attack on the heavy oxide scales.

Once new control limits were established for the mixed acid process, furMAY 2007 55

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ther optimization was investigated through continuous solids removal and free acid recovery. Utilizing a system of sedimentations tanks followed by a SAR (Scanacon Acid Recovery) system, further reductions in specific acid consumptions were obtained, and averaged 9.7 kg HNO3 (100% basis) and 3.9 kg HF (100% basis) per mt. Base metal loss due to improved pickling conditions averaged 4.1 kg/mt.

Through pickling optimization, acid savings in conjunction with reduced base-metal loss equaled an annual savings of over US$557,000 with an R.O.I calculated at approximately one year.

Conclusion A distinction should be made between the benefits provided by the removal of metals from a pickling process by an ion-retardation based system and those that can be achieved by adopting a complete acid management approach. A complete management approach to chemical acid pickling must address the key variables that govern acid pickling.

The general terms, an optimized pickling process is one where: • suspended solids are controlled; • acid concentrations are maintained within defined control limits; • dissolved metal concentrations are maintained with defined control limits; • the solution is continuously agitated; and • temperature fluctuations are minimized.

Setting specific limits for acid and metal concentrations, agitation, temperature, time and implementing equipment to control these parameters offers

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the adoptee significant benefits over what can be achieved by metal removal alone. The importance of control and removal of suspended solids in the pickling bath, while not having a direct influence on the rate of pickling, should not be overlooked.

References 1. C.J. Brown, Productivity Improvements through Recovery of Pickle Liquors with the APU Process – Technical Paper 83, 1990, Eco-Tec Inc. Pickering, Ontario, Canada.

2. L.F.Li and J.P Cellis, Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, 2003, vol.42, 3, pp. 365-376.

3. B.S. Covino Jr., J.V. Scalera, T.J. Driscoll and J.P. Carter, Metallurgical Transactions A., 1986, vol.17A, pp.137-149.

4. R.G. Reddy, S.Wang and B.Chen, Minerals and Metallurgical Processing, May 1993, pp.102-107.

5. R.M. Smith and A.E. Martell, Critical Stability Constants, Vol 4 – Inorganic Complexes, 1976, Plenum Press, New York, pp.96-103.

6. L. Narváez, E. Cano and J.M Bastidas, Metals and Corrosion, 2003, vol.54, pp.84-87.

7. Report R-44, Acid Circulation System Feasibility Study, Scanacon AB, Arlandastad Sweden, 2003.

8. A.H.M Vander Voet and C.Riddle, The Analysis of Geological Materials, Vol 1: A Practical Guide, 1993, Ontario Geological Survey, pp.387.

9. W. Gower, A Case for “Running Hot” – Reduced Operation Costs Associated with Cooling for Pickling Acid Recovery Systems – Technical Paper,

2002-01, 2002, Scanacon AB, Arlandastad, Sweden.

10. D.M Price and G.L. Horter, Met Finish., February 1994, pp. 60-65.

11. D. Henriet, Stainless Steels, eds. P. Lacombe, B. Baroux and G. Beranger, de Physique Les Ulis, 1993, pp. 823847.

12. Scanacon AB, Filtration Criteria for HAP Lines, 1999, Arlandastad, Sweden.

13. B.S. Covino, J.V. Scalera and P.M. Fabis, Pickling of Stainless Steels – A Review, 1984, Information Circular 8985, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, pp. 1- 15.

14. Y.D. Lee, Y.H. Lee, J.S. Lee and J.K. Kim, Proc. Int. Conf. on Stainless Steels, 1991, Chiba, ISJJ, pp. 952-958.

15. S.Y. Cheng, C.T Juan, S.L Kuan and W.T. Tsai, Oxidation of Metals, 2003, vol. 60(5/6), pp. 409-425.

16. D.M Price and G.L. Horter, Met Finish., February 1994, pp. 60-65. ■

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FEM aided study on hydrostatic stress in drawing of high carbon steel wires The die angle was found to have a strong influence on the magnitude of hydrostatic stress, with a decreased die angle reducing stresses in the approach zone.

By Sten He, Paul Van Houtte, Jan W. Pilarczyk and Jaroslaw Markowski he wiredrawing process has several T key process parameters (such as die shape, reduction percentage, drawing speed, back tension and friction conditions) that determine the state of internal stress, strain and temperature in the wire. To optimize these factors and produce good quality wire, the authors sought to investigate the influence of these parameters on the performance of the process and the mechanical properties of drawn wires. One key is hydrostatic stress in the deformation zone as the probability of the development of microcracks through coalescence of voids at the particle-matrix interface at the central axis of the wire is related to the distribution of hydrostatic stress.

Much research has been carried out to study the material behavior in the wiredrawing process1-17. Brandal and Valberg1 found that central bursting could be eliminated or diminished by maintaining low or moderate hydrostatic stresses inside the deformation zone. An FE analysis of a copper wire drawing process showed that at the axis of the wire, in approximately half of the approach zone, the hydrostatic stresses (positive) peak while in the bearing

Table 1. Chemical compositions of steels

zone, a minimum value (negative) is present. Increased positive hydrostatic stresses will increase the probability of a microcrack to be formed. This hydrostatic stress level (peak value) increases with an increase of back tension, reduction, friction and die angle. Bearing length and wire diameter do not significantly influence this critical stress.

Bridgman2 found that ductility of metals could be improved when hydrostatic pressure exists during deformation.

Thus, selecting a die design that maximizes hydrostatic compressive stresses should result in improvement of ductility of drawn wires.

Wright3 introduced a shape factor Δ (Eq. 1) to describe the shape of the conical zone as the ratio of the height of the deformation zone perpendicular to the wire axis to the length of the deformation zone taken parallel to this axis,

Eq. (1) where α is the semi–angle in radian and r the single reduction per pass. A lower value of Δ is concerned with a long

deformation zone and increased die contact. It also results in lower die pressure, better die life, more uniform metal flow, reduction of redundant work and hydrostatic tension in the wire center which prevents center bursting.

The current investigation focuses on the influence of die angle and friction on the hydrostatic stresses in high-carbon steel wiredrawing process. Finite element analysis is carried out to assist the analysis. Due to the development of texture in the material during the deformation, anisotropic models are also established to assess the effect.

Experimental setup Three types of high carbon steels with different carbon contents were used in the present study. Table 1 shows the chemical compositions of the materials.

The steel wire rods were patented in a lead bath before drawing. For materials A and B, wire rods with an initial diameter of 5.25 and 5.85 mm, respectively, were drawn to 2.92 mm in several passes then further drawn to 2.5 mm in a single pass. For material C, 5.5 mm wire rod was first drawn to 3.05 mm in

Fig. 1. Two dimensional FE model for wire drawing process

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Fig. 3. Distribution of hydrostatic stresses in the deformation zone for material A.

Fig. 2. Flow stress of materials used in tests.

several passes followed by patenting.

The wires were then drawn to 2.79 mm in one pass. For all the drawing operations, sintered carbide dies were used with three different wall angles (2α) of 8°, 14° and 18°. A bearing length of approximately half of the drawn wire diameter was used for each die. The drawing speed was 0.86 m/s.

plastic behavior of the material. Since the drawing speed for such wires was relatively low and the increase of temperature was not very high, the influence of temperature and strain rate is not considered a factor. Therefore, the flow stress of the material can be determined by conventional mechanical

tests, e.g. tensile tests. The experimental results can be approximated by Swifttype law σ=K(ε+ε0)n. Fig. 2 shows the flow stresses of the used materials.

During the calculations, the wire is drawn through the die until the stresses in axial direction reach a steady state.

The status of the hydrostatic stress in

Finite element modeling Finite element simulation of the drawing process has been performed with two FE packages: Forge for material A and B and Abaqus for material C. Two-dimensional isotropic model.

Because of the axi-symmetry of the drawing process, an axi-symmetric twodimensional elasto-plastic model has been established to simulate the deformation. The workpiece consists of 20 four-node elements in radial and 100 elements in axial direction for a length of 8 mm. See Fig. 1. In the calculation the die is assumed to be rigid and the effect of friction between the die and the workpiece is modeled by means of Coulomb’s friction law with a friction coefficient of 0.07 and 0.03, respectively, in Forge and Abaqus. The movement of the wire is simulated by assigning a constant velocity as the drawing speed to the first row of the nodes in the drawing direction. The wire material is assumed to be isotropic and non-linear elastic-plastic with an elastic modulus of 210GPa and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.3.

During the calculation, the von Mises yield criterion is used to describe the

58 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Van Houtte

Pilarczyk

At the time this paper was written, Shen He, Ph.D, was on a post doctoral fellowship from China at the department of metallurgy and materials engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Paul Van Houtte has served as a professor and chairman of the department of metallurgy and materials engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He is an expert in crystallographic texture, plasticity theory, and micromechanical modeling of the plastic deformation of polycrystalline metals. Jan W. Pilarczyk is an associate professor in the department of materi-

Markowski

als processing technology and applied physics at Czestochowa University of Technology (CUT). He develops new technology for wiredrawing and metal products. He is the author or coauthor of more than 170 technical papers and is president of the Poland Chapter of WAI. Jaroslaw Markowski is an assistant professor in the department of materials processing technology and applied physics at CUT. He is the author or co-author of more than 90 papers. This paper was presented at WAI’s 76th Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, May 2006.

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Fig. 4. Distribution of hydrostatic stresses in the deformation zone for material B.

the deformation zone is then analyzed for different drawing conditions.

Three-dimensional texture-based anisotropic model. Due to the axi-symmetric deformation in wire drawing, for BCC materials like steel, a <110> fiber texture develops as the deformation increases. This introduces the plastic anisotropy to the material. To incorporate an anisotropic constitutive model into the FE analysis, the well-known Taylor-Bishop-Hill (TBH) theory18 is adopted to construct a model for the plastic deformation of a polycrystalline material with known texture.

The Taylor calculations are performed supposing slip on {110} or {112} crystal planes in <111> crystal directions and assuming a uniform critical resolved shear stress τ. The hardening

Fig. 5. Distribution of hydrostatic stresses in the deformation zone for material C.

is described by the law τ = K’(Γ+Γο)n where Γ is a work-equivalent measure of strain. It is defined by its time derivative dΓ/dt=Ψ/τ, whereΨ is the rate of work per unit volume for a given plastic strain rate D. The parameters K’, Γο and n are derived from K, εo and n so that the stress-strain curve obtained from a tensile test is exactly reproduced.

The rate of work per unit volume Ψ as a function of D (represented here as five-dimensional vector w/components Dp) can be used as a plastic potential19, and strictly convex sixth-order approximations of the following form are used for the plastic potential Ψ 20:

Fig. 6. Influence of friction coefficient on hydrostatic stress for material C.

Eq. (2)

For each material one set of 210 coefficients αpqrstu is calculated prior to the finite-element simulations. The deviatoric yield stress S for a given plastic strain rate D is calculated by19:

Eq. (3)

In this paper, a three-dimensional model consists of a mesh with 11 eight-node linear brick elements with reduced inte-

Fig. 7. Recalculated (110) pole figure (a) and inverse pole figure (b) of the wire of material C (Contour level: 0.8-1.0-1.3-1.6-2.0-2.5-3.2-4.0-5.0-6.4)

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Fig. 8. von Mises isotropic and texture-based anisotropic yield locus for material C.

gration in the radial direction and 100 in the axial direction for the workpiece. To incorporate the texture-based anisotropic yield locus into the model, a user material subroutine (UMAT) was developed and employed in conjunction with Abaqus. During the calculations, like two-dimensional simulations, once a steady state of the stresses is reached, the status of the hydrostatic stress in the deformation zone is analyzed. Note that texture evolution is not taken into account in the present study.

Results and discussions For all the materials, only the results from the last drawing pass are discussed hereafter. The influence of the die angle and friction coefficient on the status of the hydrostatic stress is analyzed and the effect of the plastic anisotropy on the results is studied.

Influence of die angle. Die angle is one of the most important parameters in the wiredrawing process. Previous research has shown that it considerably influences the drawing operation and the final properties of the drawn wires.

Fig3. 3 to 5 show the influence of the die angle on the distribution of the hydrostatic stresses in the wire central region for the three materials, respectively. During the wiredrawing operation, for the same area reduction, different die angles lead to different lengths of the conical part (approach zone) of the die. To make it easier to compare the results from different drawing con-

60 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Fig. 9. Predicted hydrostatic stress using isotropic(von Mises) and plastic anisotropic (texture-based) model.

ditions, the relative position is used in the figures to locate the position of each point along the wire axis. This means that in the approach zone, the position of each point is a relative position with respect to the length of the whole approach zone, and in the bearing part, the length of the whole bearing zone is used as the reference length. As a result, for all the die angles (8°, 14° and 18°) the hydrostatic stresses in the approach zone are almost positive with one peak value nearly in the middle of the approach zone. It is this hydrostatic tensile stress that permits the development of microcracks that might eventually cause central bursting. In the bearing region, the hydrostatic compressive stresses dominate with the minimum almost in the middle of the region. Concerning the influence of the die angle, the hydrostatic stresses decrease as the die angle decreases. For materials A (Fig. 3) and B (Fig. 4), the peak of the hydrostatic stresses remain tensile for all three angles, whereas, for material C (Fig. 5), the hydrostatic stresses become negative in the whole approach zone at the angle of 8°. It is believed that the hydrostatic compressive stress in the approach zone improves the performance of the wire during the drawing operation and reduces the risk of central bursting.

Influence of friction coefficient. Fig. 6 shows the influence of the friction coefficient on the hydrostatic stresses in the wire central region for material C. The die angle is 14° for all the cases. As

shown in the figure, the hydrostatic stress reaches the maximum at the position of nearly 50% of the approach zone. In the bearing region, the hydrostatic stress becomes compressive.

When the friction coefficient changes from 0.001 to 0.1, there is almost no change for the distribution of the hydrostatic stresses in both the approach and bearing region. Therefore, the influence of the friction coefficient on the hydrostatic stress distribution is not considered a factor.

Effect of texture-induced anisotropy.

To obtain the texture information of the wire used, four incomplete pole figures, namely (110), (200), (211) and (310), were measured on the cross section of the final drawn wire of material C by means of X-ray diffraction, from which the ODF was calculated. Fig. 7 shows the recalculated (110) pole figure and inverse pole figure of the drawing direction. Obviously, a relatively weak <110> fiber texture exists in the material due to the drawing operation. On the basis of the ODF, the yield locus of the material is calculated. Fig. 8 shows the −section of both the von Mises and texture-based yield locus in the non-deviatoric stress space.

Fig. 9 illustrates the distribution of the calculated hydrostatic stress in the central region of the wire obtained from the FE models. With the consideration of the plastic anisotropy, the predicted hydrostatic stress in the approach zone decreases slightly compared to the results obtained by isotropic model.

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However, the distribution of the stress is quite similar and the position of the maximum hydrostatic stress in the approach zone remains unchanged. It should be mentioned that instead of taking texture evolution into account, the texture of the drawn wire was incorporated in the model. This might lead to an overestimation of the effect of the anisotropy. However, due to the patenting just before the last drawing operation as previously described, the texture is relatively weak. As the drawing operation continues, the deformation increases. <110> fibre texture will become stronger, which could have more significant influence on the magnitude and the distribution of the hydrostatic stress. It is therefore necessary to take this texture-induced plastic anisotropy into account during wire drawing simulation to obtain more accurate results.

Conclusions The finite-element method has been applied in the simulation of the wire drawing process to predict the distribution of hydrostatic stress in the deformation zone for high carbon steels.

Parametric study shows that the die angle has strong influence on the magnitude of the hydrostatic stress. A decrease of die angle reduces hydrostatic tensile stresses in the approach zone.

Taking into account the texture development in the material during the deformation, the implementation of the texture-based anisotropic model into the simulation could result in a more accurate prediction.

References 1. S. Brandal and H. Valberg, Analysis of the deformation process during wiredrawing by means of the finite element method, Wire Journal International, March 1982, p. 64.

2. R.M. Shemenski, Wiredrawing by computer simulation, Wire Journal International, April 1999, p. 166.

3. R. Wright, Basic of drawing, video cassette by Wire Association International.

4. H.I. Godfrey, J.F. Richards and A.S. Sason, The benefits of using wiredrawing dies with smaller included angles and longer nibs, Wire Journal Interna-

tional, June 2000, p.102.

5. C.M. Bae, W.J. Nam, Void formation at large drawing strain in pearlitic steel wires, Wires Journal International, June 1997, p.102.

6. S. Vijayakar, Thermal influences on residual stresses in drawn wire –a finite element analysis, Wire Journal International, June 1997, p.116.

7. P. Renz, W. Steuff and R. Kopp, Possibilities of influencing residual stresses in wires and bars, Wire Journal International, January 1996, p. 64.

8. S. Vijayakar, T.W. Starinshak, A. Prakash, K.M. Kotty and A.W. Bhagwat, Optimization of die geometry and drawing parameters in high–strength cord production, Wire Journal International, November 1995, p.78.

9. J.W. Pilarczyk, J. Markowski, H. Dyja and B. Golis, FEM modeling of drawing of wires for prestressed conrete. Conference Proceeding of 72nd Annual Convention, Wire Association International, Chicago, June 2002, p.

13.

10. J. £uksza, J. Majta, M. Burdek, M. Ruminsk, Modeling and measurements of mechanical behaviour in multi–pass drawing process, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 80-81, 1998, p.

398.

11. L. Godecki, Influence of drafting schedule and die angle on properties of steel spring wire, Wire Industry, October 1971, p. 719.

12. B. Avitzur, New improved criterion for the prevention of central burst in wire drawing and extrusion, Wire Journal International, November 1974, p.

77.

13. Z. Zimerman and B. Avitzur, Analysis of the effect of strain hardening on central bursting defects in drawing and extrusion, Journal of Engineering for Industry, Transactions of the ASME, February 1970, p.135.

14. R.M. Caddell and A.G. Atkins, Redundant deformation in Wire and Rod Drawing, Wire Industry, March 1971, p. 182.

15. L. Sadok, M. Paæko, A. Skolyszewski and M. Ruminski, Influence of the shape of the die on the filed of strains in the drawing process, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 34, 1992, p. 38.

16. A.L.R. de Castro, H.B. Campos and P.R. Cetlin, Influence of die

semi–angle on mechanical properties of single and multiple pass drawn copper, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 60, 1996, p. 179.

17. S. He, A. Van Bael, S.Y. Li, P. Van Houtte, F. Mei and A. Sarban, Residual stress determination in cold drawn steel wire by FEM simulation and X-ray diffraction, Journal of Materials Science and Engineering, A346, 2003, p. 101.

18. G. I.Taylor, Plastic strain in metals, J. Inst. Metals, 62, 1938, p. 307.

19. P. Van Houtte, Application of plastic potentials to strain rate sensitive and insensitive anisotropic materials, Int. J. Plasticity, 10, 1994, p. 719.

20. P. Van Houtte and A. Van Bael, Convex plastic potentials of fourth and sixth rank for anisotropic materials, Int. J. Plasticity, 20, 2004, p. 1505 ■

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Products Compound line is RoHS-compliant, flexible and tough The Thermoplastic Elastomer Division of U.S.-based Teknor Apex reports that its entire range of Elexar® thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compounds for wire and cable is currently available in RoHS-compliant formulations for end uses requiring rubber-like flexibility, toughness over a wide range of temperatures, and flexibility even under very cold outdoor conditions.

The new compounds provide the same cost-performance options as standard Elexar products and, like them, are styrene block copolymers that surpass many standard TPEs in electrical properties, a press release said. It noted that brittleness points range from -60 to -100 °C, depending on grade, and ratings for maximum continuous operating temp. (UL-1581) range from 105 to 125 °C. The specific gravity of Elexar TPEs typically is well below those of standard flexible vinyl compounds so

62 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

they yield lighter-weight end products.

The compounds excel for insulation, jacketing, automotive and appliance wiring, audio and lighting systems, and other demanding uses, the release said. The compounds have typical dielectric strength of 600-900 V/mil and a dielectric constant of 2.1-2.4, with many grades UL recognized, good for outdoor weathering UV resistance and passing the UL seven-day 60°C oil resistance tests, it said.

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Flexible, bend-resistant fiber is introduced Fujikura Europe Ltd. describes its new bend-resistant fiber, FutureGuide SR7.5, as one of the most flexible fibers in the world.

Available in a MageTsuyo SR7.5 patch cord, the fiber is flexible and highly durable: when twisted or bent the fiber returns to its original condition without any deformation or marking on the sheath, a press release said. With the ability to be manipulated in the same way as electrical or telephone cable, the fiber can be used to deliver high bandwidth communications directly into the home or office environment. The qualities of this fiber have also allowed Fujikura to develop a number of new smaller, more space-efficient closures, including connector plugs and sockets, it said.

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Replacement parts have superior coatings for better wear U.S.-based Cemanco LC has introduced a new product line for ceramic coated pulleys, sheaves, rollers and similar wear parts that it said offers superior wear properties and performance.

The replacement parts are manufactured with the tightest tolerances, balanced for high rotation speeds and coated with high impact bonding through use of a detonation gun, a press release said. The surface is then polished to minimum friction using a proprietary process, the result being a

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The replacement parts can help manufacturers reduce downtime and increase productivity for a superior price/performance ratio, the release said. Pulleys and rollers are available as standard replacement parts for suppliers such as Niehoff, SAMP, Henrich, including multiwire machines,

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The process is also applicable for other non-metallic or metallic coatings.

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Hermetic single-mode fiber offers improved fatigue resistance, high strength U.S.-based Corning Incorporated reports that it has introduced a new hermetic single-mode specialty fiber that offers improved fatigue resistance and highusable strength for numerous applications, including fiber optic sensors and towed arrays.

The properties of the hermetic layer improve the fatigue performance of the fiber by five times compared with standard

single-mode fiber while maintaining identical optical quality to Corning SMF-28® optical fiber, a press release said. The fiber’s specially designed hermetic layer provides a protective barrier to help shield the glass from exposure to hydrogen, water and corrosive chemicals through a thin layer of amorphous carbon that is bonded directly to the glass surface of the optical fiber, it said. This resistance to hydrogen

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Contact: Corning Incorporated, www.corning.com/specialtymaterials.

MAY 2007 63

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Hybrid cable integrates fiber and copper in jacket for a single cable assembly U.S.-based Timbercon, Inc., reports that its new MIL hybrid cables combine fiber and copper cable into one cable assembly for military and broadcast applications.

Timbercon’s MIL hybrid cables were described as ideal for military applications requiring low voltage copper cable and fiber cable to be used within the same space or for equipment requiring different cable types. The copper wire can carry power while the fiber can transmit data

without the risk of electromagnetic interference, or EMI, a press release said.

Additionally, it noted, hybrid cables cut down on cable weight and physical space requirements by using a single jacket, enabling a faster and more cost effective install versus traditional cabling systems.

The MIL hybrid cables are highly customizable with regards to length, channel counts and ruggedization, the release said.

The cables are offered in D38999, M28876

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“Rather than installing separate fiber and copper cables, the hybrid cable provides an easy and effective way to install both with only one point of entry,” the release said.

Contact: Timbercon, Inc., www. timbercon.com.

Aluminum telecom cable is described as being smaller yet more flexible U.S.-based CommScope, Inc., has introduced a new version of its aluminum 50ohm 7/8”Extremeflex® cable.

The FXL 780 cable, a press release said, is smaller in diameter than its predecessor while offering customers improved installation features such as greater flexibility and standardized hardware accessories.

The FXL 780 offers standardized hardware and accessories while maintaining its superior electrical and mechanical perfor-

mance as determined by published industry specifications, the release said. It supplements the company’s line of Extremeflex cables that are designed to offer lighter tower loading, greater flexibility and lower life cycle cost by reducing on-going maintenance, it said.

“FXL 780 is currently being installed globally with select major carriers on a trial basis,” said Senior Vice President Larry Nelson, CommScope’s Chief Technical

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64 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Officer for Wireless Engineering. “We envision FXL 780 as the next generation 7/8” cable and expect FXL 780 to gain worldwide acceptance as a cost-effective alternative to traditional 7/8” copper-based products.” The Extremeflex line is available in 1/2”, 7/8”, and 1-1/4” sizes in addition to the new 1-5/8” cable size.

Contact: CommScope, Inc., www.commscope.com.

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Continuous ink jet system works well for small character marking U.S.-based Matthews Marking Products has introduced the I-Mark™ C84 Continuous Ink-Jet (CIJ) Printer, a model that it noted works especially well for small character marking.

The I-Mark C84 can print at speeds over 1000'/min, relative to the character or message height, a press release said. High speed applications are usually one line of text with characters made of 5 dots x 5 dots, a configuration known as a raster. The C84, it said, can print a raster of 5 x 5 with a height around 1.4 mm.

The Mark C84 can operate with a variety of inks, such as dye and pigmented inks.

The I-mark C84 offers a variety of such inks, commonly used by the wire and cable industry, with available colors of black, yellow and white.

The C84’s icon-based touchscreen and single button controls for jet startup/shutdown make it simple to operate and to create and change messages, the release said.

The C84 requires maintenance only after

2,500 hours of operation, in comparison to the usual 1,500 hours of competing CIJ printers, it said.

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MAY 2007 65

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Copper-cored wire carries greater current amounts U.S.-based Anomet Products, Inc., is supplying a standard line of copper-cored glass-to-metal sealing wire for fabricating hermetic switching devices requiring higher conductivity than solid wire.

The sealing wire is hermetically bonded between the copper core and selected alloy to create a wire that carries up to six times more current than solid wire; depending upon the application, a press release said.

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the wire permits the design of smaller conductors than solid wire and is ideally suited for fabricating hermetic switching devices, it said.

The wire, available with 2:1 and 3:1 ratios of the alloy to the copper core, can include: FeNi (Alloy 52, Dilaton 51) Nickel-Iron, Kovar® (Dilver) Nickel-IronCobalt, Alloy 42-6 Nickel-Iron-Chrome, and Alloy 446SS Iron-Chromium, each hermetically bonded to a copper core with 100% IACS minimum conductivity, the

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Spill kits can come in handy for industry U.S.-based Oil Eater has introduced a line of all-in-one, professional grade emergency spill kits designed to contain and clean up hazardous spills in factories, as required by OSHA and the EPA. Each kit contains a generous supply of absorbent pads, pillows, universal snakes, booms, protective gloves, oil resistant high temperature disposal bags, an emergency

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66 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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Media New website launched by industry supplier U.S.-based Heatbath® Corporation, a supplier of metal finishing products, announced that it has launched a new website, www.heatbath.com, that offers a wide range of information for the industry.

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Specifically for the wire and cable industry, it presents information about proprietary chemistries for cleaning and coating of ferrous metals to improve performance of drawing and cold forming operations. Products for zinc phosphating, immersion copper coating, oxalate coating as well as reactive and non-reactive lubricants will be featured.

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Ferrous scrap price index available on-line U.S.-based Management Science Associates, Inc. (MSA) announced that its RMDAS™ Ferrous Scrap Price Index is available to subscribers of MetalPrices.com, a leading metal industry price and news service.

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MAY 2007 67

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WJI Classified Ad Information Wire Journal International classified advertising is the most cost-effective way to get your sales message out through WJI’s circulation of more than 15,000. Your ad will also appear on wirenet.org and wcexpo.com, adding thousands of viewers.

WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS seeking employment positions are entitled to FREE “Position Wanted” classified ads. Limit: one ad per issue, maximum three ads per year. This WAI membership benefit is not transferable to nonmembers or to companies.

CLASSIFIED AD RATES: • $1.25 per word for Wire Journal International and on-line classifieds at wirenet.org and wcexpo.com (20 word minimum). • Blind box numbers, add $10. • Boldface headlines, add $5 per line (up to 18 characters per line). Be sure to specify category.

BLIND BOX INFO: Blind box numbers assure the confidentiality of the advertiser in both the WJI and the on-line publication. Responses are mailed out within two business days after

receipt. Responses to Blind Box ads should be addressed to: Wire Journal International, Box number (as it appears in print or on-line), P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA. PAYMENT POLICY: No agency commissions or cash discounts allowed. Ads are billed upon publication, or on secure cyber-cash sites on-line.

DEADLINES: Copy is due a full month in advance, i.e., it must be received by March 1 for publication in the April issue.

Classifieds booked on-line, run for at least one-month on-line, from the date of booking. Wire Journal International “Print classifieds” booked on-line as an “add-on” to an “on-line classified” booking will run in the next available issue of the WJI. USE OF THE WIRE JOURNAL CLASSIFIED ORDER BLANK located on the reverse side. Please type all copy submitted. Fax copies are acceptable; our fax number is 203-4538384. Telephone orders will not be accepted.

REPRESENTATION

PERSONNEL SERVICES

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

NEED REPRESENTATION? Highly experienced sales representative looking for principals to represent in Mexico, Central and South America. If your products deserve someone with more than 20 years of wire and cable industry experience as well as extensive contacts throughout these unique and growing markets, send an e-mail to antonioayala@yahoo.com.

have secured the services of thousands of key individual contributors, managers and executives. For corporations we provide recruitment, outplacement, and salary assessment functions. For the job seeker exploring new opportunities, we provide a wealth of information. Our services are performed in absolute confidence. Contact: WIRE RESOURCES, INC. 522 E. Putnam Ave, Greenwich, CT 06830, tel: 203-622-3000 or 800394-WIRE, email: wri@wireresources. com, Internet www.wireresources.com.

ing the Wire and Cable Industry since 1978. Phone: 864-366-5555; e-mail dunhill@ wctel.net. Contact: Hal Freese.

PERSONNEL SERVICES “LET OUR SUCCESS BE YOUR SUCCESS.” Wire Resources is the foremost recruiting firm in the Wire & Cable Industry. For 30 plus years our clients

DUNHILL PROFESSIONAL SEARCH OF GREENWOOD. Serv-

KEMAITE COAXMATE® TAPES WUXI KEMAITE OPTIC & ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CO., LTD. ISO: 9001:2000 certified & RoHS test verified factory.

Produce the shielding tape (Alpet) for international wire & cable industry.

Tel: +86-510-85626022 Fax: +86-510-85626028 Web: http://www.kemaite.com

68 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

DIES CARBIDE SPECIALISTS, INC. offers excellent quality, price and delivery on all your carbide wire die needs (R2-R12). Yes, you can have all three! Give us an opportunity to prove it. For personal attention to your specific requirements, contact Ray Northern at 440-951-4027 or fax 440-9549094.

MOLONEY DIE COMPANY. Low prices on all sizes of new, used and recut carbide dies. We also recut tapered nibs.

Fast turn-around. Quality service since 1985. Tel. 904-388-3654.

APOLLO DIA-CARB COMPANY. Buy & sell new/used Natural & PCD DIAMOND DIES. Fair prices & excellent lead times. Contact Paulette, Owner-Sales, by telephone at 1-508226-1508 or by e-mail at apollodie@ wmconnect.com.

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WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFIED AD INFORMATION NAME _________________________________________________________________________TITLE_________________________________________________________ COMPANY ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CITY ________________________________________STATE _______________POSTAL CODE _____________________COUNTRY_______________________________ PHONE ______________________________FAX________________________________EMAIL ______________________________________________________________ AD CATEGORY____________ ISSUE YOUR AD BEGINS___________ NUMBER OF ISSUES RUN _______LAST ISSUE ________________RUN TILL FURTHER NOTICE? YES____ NO ____ FULL RUN (WJI & ON-LINE) YES____ NO ____

BLIND BOX? YES____ NO ____

WAI MEMBER? YES____ NO ____ WAI MEMBERSHIP # ______________________ (Applies only to “Position Wanted”)

Send to: Attn: Cathy LaPointe WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL P.O. Box 578 Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA

HEADLINE (MAXIMUM 18 CHARACTERS) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ HEADLINE, 2ND LINE (18 CHARACTERS) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ENTER COPY HERE: RATE: Head @ $5 line $ _________ Full run: word count @ 1.25 $ _________ Blind box @ $10 $ _________ Total cost of insertion $ _________

PERSONNEL SERVICES WHITELEGG CFM-610-TWR, 2D FORMING AND WELDING MACHINE. Wire range .080" to .250", maximum ring and frame size 32".

Includes 30 KVA TWR automatic butt welding unit, RS615/5 twin plane roller straightener with indexing bracket, WSP-1000 power driven coil holder, and industrial PC with windows touch screen. Machine demonstration available upon request. E-mail: harrisj@ indwire.com.

TRAVERSE UNITS High quality "rolling ring" design. Better warranty and 30 percent less than Amacoil! "YR" Products, Inc. Phone/Fax 708-672-5007.

WWW.URBANOASSOCIATES.COM. For New & Used Wire & Cable Equipment. Tel. 727-863-4700; fax 727-8634711; or by e-mail at urbassoc@ verizon.net. ■

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. EQUIPMENT SPECIALISTS TO THE ELECTRICAL WIRE & CABLE INDUSTRY APPRAISERS • COMMISSION BROKERS • INDIVIDUAL PIECES OR ENTIRE PLANTS

FOR SALE 1 - NORTHAMPTON 760mm D.T. Buncher 1 - NORTHAMPTON 630mm D.T. Buncher 1 - NEW ENGLAND BUTT 12-Head 18” Planetary Cabler 1 - WATSON 36” Rotating Cabler Line 1 - SYNCRO FX-13 Rod Breakdown Drawing Line, Copper 2 - VAUGHN 10-Die Rod Breakdown Drawing Lines, AL and CU 1 - ENTWISTLE 4.5” 24:1 L/D PVC Extruder 1 - DAVIS STANDARD 2.5” 24:1 L/D Nylon Extruder 1 - D/S 2” 30:1 L/D Hi-Temp Extrusion Line 1 - D/S 2” 24:1 L/D / 1.25” 30:1 L/D Extrusion Line 6 - BARTELL 60”, 72” Payoffs and Take-ups 1 - 30” Core Neutralizer Payoff 1 - CORTINOVIS 72-Wire 20” Rigid Strander

1 - NEB 18-Head 22” Rigid Strander, L-R 1 - CLIPPER Model PS50 Parallel Axis Dual Reel Take-up 1 - CLIPPER Model PS36 Parallel Axis Dual Reel Take-up 1 - ENTWISTLE 36” Dual Reel Take-up, Model THE 24/36 1 - DAVIS STANDARD 30” Dual Reel Take-up 1 - SYNCRO DFH Spooler, 30” Reel w/ENDEX Dancer 1 - DAVIS ELECTRIC Model CRS30 Rewinder 1 - E.J.R. Triple Head Taper, Model 2002HT 1 - VIDEOJET Model 37e InkJet Printer, new 2000 1 - ADVANTAGE Chiller, Model MK25AM-41HBX, 9/98 41 - 48” x 32-1/4” ID x 25” Barrel x 3” Arbor Toroidal Reels

Contact: Martin Kenner

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. P.O. Box 8456 • Cranston, RI 02920-0456 • Tel. (401) 943-3777 • Fax: (401) 943-3670 WEB: www.commissionbrokers.com • E-MAIL: marty137@aol.com

MAY 2007 69

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If you haven’t seen the latest WAI Connection online... ...you may be in the dark about late-breaking industry news.

WAI moves information The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc., delivers The WAI Connection, its comprehensive online newsletter, to our members twice each month. Featuring the latest WAI, Chapter, and industry news—as well as late-breaking event and people items—it’s a great way to stay informed about the industry.

is all it takes to help us deliver The WAI Connection directly to you. But without your update, you may miss out.

Stay in touch with WAI Please contact Chip Marsh, Director of Membership, today at membership@wirenet.org to update your address and any contact information that may have recently changed.

Because when you move, so does WAI.

But if we don’t have your most current e-mail address, we’re both missing Connections! A quick e-mail message

Enlighten us with your updated e-mail address today!

The WAI Connection is an online publication of The Wire Association International, Inc. 1570 Boston Post Road • P.O. Box 578 • Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA Tel.: (001) 203-453-2777 • Fax: (001) 203-453-8384 • Web site: www.wirenet.org

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Advertisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Index/Key Contacts ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

ACE Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Richard Medoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 610-623-2204 AEB International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Erkan Buyuksoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 212-752-4647 Anbao Wire & Mesh Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 BJ Hur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 86-335-389-3600 Axis Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Joanna Hoiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 508-481-9600 Balloffet Die Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Richard Barthod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 915-592-5252 Beta LaserMike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bob Stockholm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 937-233-9935 Bongard Drummond Trading LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 John Drummond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 260-625-6275 Cable Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Fred Hardy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 704-375-9313 Canterbury Engineering Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Brian Schemenaur, Bill Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .800-241-7650 Carris Reels, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 2 David Ferraro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 802-773-9111 Cemanco LC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Rainer Lashofer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 954-970-3099 Commission Brokers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Martin Kenner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ph. 401-943-3777 Die Quip Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Tom Maxwell, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 412-833-1662 ESTEVES-DWD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Steve Marcum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 260-728-9272 Eurolls SpA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 39-0432-796-511 The George Evans Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 David Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ph. 309-757-8300 Fisk Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Eric Fisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 973-427-7550

Fort Wayne Wire Die, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 4 Don Bieberich/John Downey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260-747-1681 Genca Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Brian Schemenaur, Bill Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 727- 524-3622 Heritage Wire Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Chris Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(260) 623-6151 HOWAR Equipment/Metavan NV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Chris Hauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 905-738-4010 Huestis Machine Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Joe Snee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ph. 800-972-9222 Hydro Carbide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 724-539-9701 Kinrei of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Steve Hess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 973-677-9500 Koster Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 631-454-1766 Leibinger Numbering LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 203-853-0222 Mathiasen Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Mark Mathiasen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 860-873-1423 Metavan NV/HOWAR Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Chris Hauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 905-738-4010 Micro Products Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Bill Keiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 630-787-9350 Northwire Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 800-468-1516 NUMAMERICA/NUMALLIANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Wes Wassell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 563-386-9590 Paramount Die Company Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Richard Sarver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 410-272-4600 PolyOne Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 440-930-1000 or 866-PolyOne Pressure Welding Machines Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Steve Mepsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 44-1233-820847

SALES OFFICES NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

Robert J. Xeller Anna Bzowski Wire Journal International 1570 Boston Post Road P.O. Box 578 Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA Tel: (203) 453-2777 Fax: (203) 453-8384

U.K., France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Denmark & Scandinavia Jennie Franks P.O. Box 33 Moulton Newmarket, Suffolk, England CB81SH Tel: +44-1638-751132 Fax: +44-1638-750933 E-mail: franksco@ btopenworld.com

ASIA/WAI India Office Germany, Austria, & Switzerland Dagmar Melcher Media Service International P.O. Box 103 D-82402 Seeshaupt Germany Tel: +49-8801-914682 Fax: +49-8801-914683 E-mail: DMelcher@t-online.de

Anand Bhagwat Wire & Cable Services Pvt. Ltd. (WCS) E-mail abhagwat@wirenet.org or mobile 91-98-508-38467

MAY 2007 71

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ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

Queins & Company GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 H. G. Queins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 49-2472-8080 Sanxin Wire Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Doug Thornton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 434-906-2340 SCOB Paul Schaaf GmbH & Co. Kg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 49-2772-62016 Sheaves Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Stew Walton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 866-344-6786 SIKORA AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Jeff Swinchatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 770-486-1233 SIKORA International USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Jeff Swinchatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 770-486-1233 Sjogren Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Carl Sjogren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 508-987-3206 Sweed Machinery, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 541-855-1512 Talladega Machinery & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Bob Douglas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ph. 256-480-5124 Tubular Products Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Steve Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 205-856-1300 Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Rahul Sachdev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 860-583-4646 Witels Albert USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Bob Flower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 410-228-8383

Woodburn Diamond Die, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Jackie Lichty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 260-632-4217 Wuxi Kernaite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 86-510-85626028 Wyrepak Industries, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Ray Browne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 860-632-5477 Zumbach Electronics Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Keith Donahue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ph. 914-241-7080

Wire Association International ads Contact: . . . . . . . . . .Ph: 203-453-2777 Fax: 203-453-8384 WAI Membership Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Wire Expo 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 WAI Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Coming next month •Lubricants & Filtration

VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE

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www.wireandplastic.com EXPL260 Tandem line w/SAMP TRB-2, wire EXTRUSION LINES drawing/annealer/preheater, PLANETARY CABLER Yr. 1999, 3 1/2” D.STD EXPL231 3 1/2” D.Std. 24:wire 1L/D Therm III jacketing line. extruder, 24:1 L/D & 2” 24:1 piggyback, multipass CBR751 22” Watson 37 (6+12+18) planetary (2) Skalteks A12PS, 40” Hall beltup. cat, Viteck TDV-260-3 capstan, Clipper take cabling line withPS-24HS dual capstan, taper, binder, 84” shaft22” vert. accum 16’, Line (2) D.E. 36” takeups, CTC EXPL296 Tandem withTURA NIEHOFF, M30, VG30, less takeup, 72” S/L payoff. tape cone former, binder, Beta payoff, MCS190 preheater, Nokia Lasermike, 90 mm 24:1Zumbach extruder, TAKEUPS CAPAC, Fusion UVcapstan, cure, HallTouch footage counter, Videojet 350mm multipass Screen, Control TKU846 Samp drives, 560mmYr.dual shaftless parallel 9900 trough.

Panelprinter, withNEW Eurotherm 1996 with Nokia axis hi 24:1 speed takeup for telephone.

45mm extruder, 500mm EXPL232 6”piggyback NRM 24:1 Jacketing line, EKP-5, Yr. 2001, Medek & Schoerner RS707.

TKU845 Nokia EKP50 parallel axis hi(2) Skaltek A12PS payoff,mm s bandmarker (2)dual 60” reel Bartell takeups w/OH TBR157 22” Royle CEECO 7 wire 22” Tubular Strander, traverse, 36” B/W capstan, 30” horiz accum, encir30T speed takeups.

Carrier chiller, Zumbach CAPAC, Videojet 9900shaft printer, TKU837 36” Davis Electric TAP-36, parallel Hall footage counters, Fusion cure, trough. w/dancer.

EXPL230 6” Davis Standard 2.2 24:1mTherm Jacketing HI TEMP EXTRUDERS TKU792 NEW Rosendahl portalIIItire type traline, (1987), 40” caterpuller, (2)EXP742 60” Bartell (YR 1998): EXP740 1 1/2”belt D.STD. 30:1, (2) versing take upMGS/Hall w/accum. takeups, 10 ton chiller, Zumbach CAPAC, Beta laser- 2” 45mm NEXTROM 30:1, EXP770 1 1/2” 24:1, EXP666 TKU841 60” - 96” Bartell shaftless take ups/payoff. mike, footage counter, trough, Viteck TDV-240-4 22” vert 30:1.

Skaltek portal payoffs & takeups Models: UX25T, 16’ accumulator.

UX28T, U20T, U16T, U12P4K, U26T, DUAL HIU30T, SPEED TAKE UPS U25T, EXPL229 4 1/2” Davis Standard 24:1 Thermatic III, 1997, A12P-4K, A204, AX28, A30, A264K. NOKIA (1)Line, EKP5 2001, (2) EKP50 1993, (2) EKP100 Jacketing 40”AX26, Hall belt caterpuller, Viteck TDV-400COILERS 1995.

4 22” vert. accum, (2) 60” Bartell takeups, footage TKU903 (7) CLIPPER S/L, parallel axis PS-24HS, CLR127Videojet, (5)24” Reelex/Windings dual figure 8 UV winders, counter, 20 ton chiller, trough, fusion cure 1990’s. oven, dryer, (2) Skaltek A12PS payoffs.

Modelhopper D1000/D1001.

TKU968 36” D.ELEC. Rebuilt recently w/caliper disc EXTRUDERS EXPL233 4 1/2” Davis Standard 24:1 Therm III, 1995, brakes, VCD703 drives, GE PLC. Jacketing (2) 48” Hall driven Payoffs, Lot: D. St.Line, extruders, 6” 24:1, 4 1/2” 24:1,30”Sterling 3 1/2” 24:1, dual capstan, Viteck TDV-300-4 vertical accum, (2) 2 1/2” 24:1 vertical, 2” 24:1. 14” LINES/MULTI WIRE/ ROD WIRE DRAWING 60” Bartell takeups, footage counter, lasermike, trough, WRD779 (3) SAMP TRB-3 (MS200) lines w/ RC15 Fusion UV cure oven, print head.

RECENT PURCHASES NEW PURCHASES cling bearing type, 1000 RPM w/dual capstan.

EXTRUDERS TKU991 16” Clipper dual rewinder/spooler, EXP604 NEW Samp Deangeli TE35/24,SP-16.

1 1/2” verEXP637 (2) 3/4” Entwistle, TherCLR188 42”1BONGARD coilers,(FEP), Yr. 2000, tical extruder with motor.drophi-temp moflite extruders, 24:1 Reliance L/D, 42” Centerline, 5-Zone. III, KW1050KT, 32 stems, drives PLC. EXP588 2 1/2” D.Std. extruder, 24:1,&Thermatic.

RWD418 120” Rosendahl trav., column type, shaftless CABLERS w/40 HP AC Vector. rewind line.

CBR798 48” Entwistle single twist rotating takeup, CABLERS CBR906 36” binder, ALLARD bow twister, 1+4, 20”binder, USM conc. w/conc. unit oscillating plate, 25 CBR759 22” 37W 1+6+12+18 NEBconc rigid strander, taper, AC Vector drives, 60” Take up. pair 16” payoff.

(1989), 250 RPM max, 3” 18” lay dual capstan.

CBR913 48” EDMANDS bow twister, 1+3, dual 48” range, 1” OD max, 6000 LB max, 30 HP DC cradle capstan, tapers, 84”Cook takeup.

CBR741/CBR743 (3) 36” S. twist bunchers, drive, 15(2) HPconc.

AC reel drive.

CBR912 (4)Mfg. 560mm WATSON/KINREI BH-36, Yr. 1972, 14” conc. taper,D.T. alsoTwinner, (1) BHCBR800 48” Northampton (NMC) D. Twist strander 30, BH24, Yr. traverse, 1978. S/L cradle, dual capstan, (2) (bow(3) type), Uhing CBR716/CBR722 (9) 760 mm Samp D.T. bunchers, conc. binders. annealer, TE42 spooler, 40 DC Eurotherm drive.

BM760-D, Yr. Mfg. 1997/92 REWINDERS WRD781 SAMP 13 die MS400 CBR718/CBR719 (2) rod 48”draw Cookbox, BH-48 S.T. cablers RWD377 (2) 1.6m Skaltek cut to length lines with w/WRD804 RC 80 multipass 4400KVA annealer, 45DC. with conc.

Taper, payoff.

A164K payoff, cutter WRD795 SAMPU16T multi takeup, wire (14)L100 drawing linecounter, CBR708 60”w/R16M.14.1000 Ceeco footage 1+6 planetary cabler.

Dual 24” dancer accumulator, counter.

(1Yr. - w/SC4 MT8R.1.8.27 annealer, 1995.

ECC taper, 72” Cat,multi 96” wire portal takeup. accumulator).

WRD784 NIEHOFF (7)trav. drawing line, MMH120 CBR720 2.2m Pourtier drum twisting (5) 1.8m w/RM250 WSV800 static spooler (1993) RWD376 annealer, 40” Viteck rewind line with S/Lline takeup, S/L rotating payoffs, rot. Cat, tapers, binder.

WRD770 SAMP MT25.2 wire drawer, w/annealer, (2) driven payoff, dancer, Beta sparker & counter.

630mm TE65-M spoolers, Yr. 1987/1989.

WIRE DRAWING COILERS WRD769 NIEHOFF M40 drawer 17 die, with GBC WRD677/WRD678 (2)wire Samp 14D.E. wire, die, CLR157 (1)5 Reelex D1000 dual with 36”31 driven rod drawer die, annealer (1997), 800mm Samp MLS/5T.14 withVG-30 annealers, (2) TE/65-M 630 mm payoff, Hall accum, footage counter, controls, 24” dual spooler (1993) 5/16”-22 AWG. spoolers.

(1997/1993). rewinder, 1990’s.

WRD786 SYNCRO FX-13 Rod Breakdown Line for WRD689 Cook DHDrawer, 5+8 die Hall roddriven machine, CLR158L-R, Reelex D1000 dual13 w/40” copper, w/FX-13 F Annealer, 36” payoff, accum, footage BEKAERT coiler.counter, 24” dual rewinder, 1990’s.

(1996/1993).

CLR156 560mm (2) Reelex D1000 dual coiler with controls, CBR914 Double Twist Buncher, DTOceramics, RA5,LESMO 300 KVA annealer, 30” spooler, dancer/accum.

560, 1999.

Mfg 1980’s.

CLR154 630 (2) Reelex S500 (1) LH, 1 RH, single w/ CBR911 mm NORTHAMPTON D.T.HP Twinner, WRD690 Syncro F13 13 die, 350 drive, controls, dancer.

B630.

RA5, 300 KVA annealer, 30” spooler, 30” drop CBR807 Yr. 1997.

(10) CLR155 (4) (2)760mm Reelex SAMP D500, BM760D, (1) RH, single w/controls, coiler.

1993-1995. dancer.

WRD691 (4) Syncro C13 inter.

Dwg. Machine, CBR899 (3) NORTHAMPTON SLB800 D.T. Bunchers, BRAIDERS ceramics, 100 HP DC, C3 annealer, 30” spooler.

Yr. 1995-1998.

BRD303 (10)Wardwell Model H, on MSC1221 (2) STRANDER NIEHOFF 16Carrier VZ-01 Tin Rebuilt, Electroplaters TUBULAR wire, mot 30” x 16”26” frames. (still in(Yr. crates) w/Bongard drop coilers 1994/1996).

TBR143 ST/650, 30” Stolberger 12+ wire tubular stranBRD302 16 Carrier, on wire, motorder, dual(41) cap,Wardwell 84” Bartell takeup. ized, Model G/H, 30” or 24C braider frames.

TBR145/TBR146 (2) 630mm 1+6 (2) 1+12 BRD305COOK Wardwell 24 Carrier cable.

WRD787 Rod Breakdown Line for Alum L-R, 630mm Ceeco tubular stranders, encircling w/Cook DH4+8 Endex Annealer, 36” Syncro DANCERS/ACCUMULATORS bearing, spin Drawer, safe cradles. coiler.

DAN187 (6) Reelex motorized AC300 dancers.

MISCELLANEOUS WRD796 (2) ENDEX 30” dropcoiler w/ turntables, conDAN184Sciences (16) Hall dancers 10’ +/Unit Yr. Mfg. 1990, Energy Irradiation trols. nitrogen generator.

WIRE DRAWING LINE INSULATING/JACKETING WRD717 Nextrom 12 wire LINES multiwire drawer w/annealEXPL253 3 1/2” D.STD. 24: 1 12 Therm (2) Skaltek er, (2) 630/800mm spoolers, stemII,payoff, 100 HP 1.2m payoffs,50 Hall accum, (2) 40” Hall S/L Take DC drawer, HPpayoff annealer.

(1995).

Enter 12 AWG up.

Viteck accum.

2.05mm, Finish 38 AWG 0.10mm, 29 dies, 5000 FPM, EXPL229 4 1/2” D.STD. 24:1 Therm III, 1997, Jacketing MGH529A. Line, 40” Hall belt caterpuller, Viteck TDVWire 400 4 22” vert.

WRD718 (20) Syncro Machine AG-16 Drawing accum, (2) 60” Bartell take ups,Annealer/spooler, footage counter, VideoMachine, 5000-FPM, Syncro WST jet, 20 ton chiller, trough, fusion UV cure oven, hopper annealing controls dryer, (2) Skaltek A12PS payoffs.

Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp. 100 Franklin Street Bristol, CT 06010 USA Phone (860) 583-4646 Fax: (860) 589-5707 sales@wireandplastic.com www.wireandplastic.com

72 WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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