Lubricant

Any substance that serves as a continuous film that through its presence reduces the friction between two surfaces in contact. Two distinctive forms of lubrication are principally employed in wiredrawing: dry soap powder lubricants and wet lubricants. Lubricants can be further classified into the following categories: rod coatings, dry soap powders (solid lubricants), oil-based liquid lubricants, grease-type lubricants and water-emulsifiable lubricants. It is customary to use rod coatings and dry lubricants to draw coarse ferrous wire. Oil-based and grease-type lubricants are generally used on the single-die drawing of rod and coarse ferrous wire. Water-emulsifiable-type lubricants are generally used to draw nonferrous wire and small diameter steel wire that may be coated with a nonferrous material such as copper. See Coolant.