Papers - Copper and Brass - Causes of Cuppy Wire (With Discussion)

The defect in wire known as "cuppiness" has appeared and disappeared from time to time but the exact cause of its appearance or disappearance has not heretofore been known definitely. This defect is not limited to one particular metal or alloy but seems to be found at various times in all of the materials that are drawn into wire. Fig. 1 represents cuppy wire made from an aluminum alloy and Fig. 2 illustrates copper wire that became cuppy in drawing without intermediate annealing. Differences of opinion are current among the manufacturers of wire and in the literature (see bibliography at end of paper), some believing that the source of the trouble lies in segregation in the wire rod, oxides, sulfides, slag, etc.; others that the trouble is created by an unevenness of stress distribution across the section of the wire, usually thought of as being a function of die shape. All of the published work is of a qualitative rather than a quantitative nature. With this in mind, it was deemed advisable to make a study of the shape of the wire-drawing dies, as well as the oxygen content of the copper to be drawn. Experimental After several methods were tried, it was found that by studying the contour of the butt-end of the rod after drawing a measure of the "working" across the section of the wire could be made. The butt-end of the annealed rod was not sheared but was sawed off. The end was then smoothed with a fine file so that the plane of filing was perpendicular to the drawing axis. It is to be noted that this method is not an absolute measure of the distribution of cold working but is a very good indicative means of studying comparative values. The method of examining a tension break in wire was found to be the most sensitive in detecting cuppiness. Other methods, such as microscopic examination of longitudinal sections, X-ray radiographic studies, etching away of outer layers with nitric acid, and fracture by bending, can all be used to identify cuppy wire but the tension break will give the fracture characteristic of cuppiness before any of the other methods can