EuroWire May 2021

Technology News

An examination of “cup and cone” wire breaks

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NF Wire Forum was held online. The webinar was organised by the consortium NF Wire Forum (Non-Ferrous Wire Forum), consisting of copper manufacturer Aurubis AG, drawing die producer Balloffet GmbH, lubricant manufacturer Carl Bechem GmbH, wire drawing machinery specialist Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co KG and the association Deutsches Kupferinstitut (German Copper Institute) DKI. The event was dedicated to an interdisciplinary examination of “cup and cone” wire breaks. Lecturers from the consortium partners shared specific aspects of this topic in short presentations. drawing process are the result of unfavourable interactions of forces, tensions and other physical phenomena in the wire material that exceed its tensile strength. The consequences are increased machine down times and scrap production. One of the main types of wire break is the “cup Wire breaks during the

and cone” break, so called because one end of the broken wire is deepened like a cup or a crater, and the other is cone-like. These breaks usually occur when the wire passes through a drawing die. Faulty pre-treatment of the wire, insufficient lubrication or inappropriate drawing die geometry may result in the surface of the wire being braked while its inside continues to move, causing shear stresses. These induce local cracks that grow with additional strain and reduce the load-bearing cross-section of the wire until the material breaks, with the tip of the cone-like wire end oriented in the drawing direction. In order to avoid such wire breaks, the interaction of the drawing machine, the wire, the drawing tools and the drawing

medium must be observed. The basis for a successful drawing process is provided by the melting and manufacturing of the cast wire rod. A recording of the NF Wire Forum presentations on this subject can be found on the consortium’s homepage, with contributions from Dr Cornel Abratis (Aurubis) on refined manufacturing and testing methods; Stephan Gorgels (Niehoff) on the introduction of electronically controlled individual drives; Michael Biller (Balloffet) on monitoring during multi-wire drawing; and Christopher Folland (Bechem) on targeted maintenance and monitoring of the drawing medium. NFWire Forum www.nf-wireforum.com

The wire ends after a “cup and cone” break

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Expanding high-capacity fibre network to enable 5G across UK

SSE EnterpriseTelecoms, a UK connectivity provider, has selected Infinera’s XTM Series for the second phase of its UK-wide network expansion. The expanded network will bring high- capacity services to more businesses across the UK, further facilitating 5G rollouts, and aiding in the deployment of next-generation connectivity tech- nologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). TheXTMSeriesprovidesanoptical solution optimised for 5G transport with high- performance synchronisation capabilities and low latency. The network’s Layer 2 packet optical aggregation features also provide enterprise customers with high- bandwidth connectivity services over

the same network. These benefits extend across SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ network, which upon completion will span over 30,000km. “This network expansion with Infinera’s XTM Series is key to our UK initiative as it enables new technologies including the IIoT and autonomous vehicles, as well as opening the door to new business technologies such as seamless, instant video streaming and immersive virtual and augmented reality,” said Dave Eddy, COO, SSE Enterprise Telecoms. “Infinera’s XTM solution provided the high performance, scalability and flexibility required to meet our network needs.” Infinera www.infinera.com

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May 2021