Eliminate Frequent Stops! Increasing Changeover Cycles by 50%+
Case Study: How a copper wire producer reduced die changes from 3x/week to 1x/week using high-wear-resistance nano-coated PCD.
The Challenge
A leading regional producer of fine copper wire was experiencing excessive downtime on their multi-wire drawing lines. Standard tungsten carbide dies were wearing out rapidly due to the high-speed nature of the process (25m/s), necessitating die changes 3 times per week. This frequency not only halted production but also introduced diameter inconsistencies during the ramp-up of new dies.
Titan Engineering Solution
Titan Precision engineers conducted a tribological analysis of the drawing lubricant and wire surface. We proposed a switch to our 'Titan-PCD+' series with a specialized nano-crystalline diamond coating. This material offers a friction coefficient of <0.08 and significantly higher thermal conductivity than standard carbide, preventing heat buildup which accelerates wear.
Fig 1. Analysis and Implementation
The Results
After implementing the Titan-PCD+ dies on the final 4 passes of the drawing machine, the customer was able to run the line for a full week (24/7 operations) without a single die change. The die change frequency dropped from 3x/week to 1x/week (scheduled maintenance).
Key Takeaways
- 66% reduction in setup/changeover downtime.
- 12% increase in total monthly throughput.
- Improved Cpk values for wire diameter consistency due to steady-state operation.
Facing a similar issue?
Our application engineers can audit your current setup and propose a similar high-performance tooling solution.
- 24-hour drawing analysis
- Custom geometry simulation
- Performance guarantee