Material that forms on wire either as a result of the charring action that heat has on the wiredrawing lubricant during continuous annealing, or through an excessive amount of hydrocarbon-bearing gas present in the atmosphere during pot annealing. The term may also be used to describe the effects seen when material is over-pickled, permitting the release of carbon from the areas of pickled virgin metal upon the cleaned surface.

Steel having no specified minimum quantity for any alloying element, other than the commonly accepted amounts of manganese, silicon and copper, or the following maximum contents (manganese 1.65%, silicon 0.60%, copper 0.6%) and only an incidental amount of any element other than carbon, silicon, manganese, copper, sulfur and phosphorous. The term is used to distinguish “ordinary steel” from alloy steel.

See Total Carbon.

A process in which a ferrous metal is case-hardened by being heated in a gaseous atmosphere. The alloy absorbs carbon and nitrogen simultaneously by the surface, and by diffusion, creates a concentration gradient. The material is then cooled at a rate that will produce desired properties.

Carburizing, the raising of the carbon content of the surface of a low-carbon steel, is the first step in a case-hardening process. Carburizing is done by exposing the steel to a suitable atmosphere, a carbon rich gas, a liquid or a powder. The steel is held at a temperature corresponding to the austenitic phase. The ab­sorption and diffusion of carbon into the austenite region, about 900°C (1652°F), is main­tained at that temperature until the desired weight of carbon has been introduced into the steel. A typical application for this process is fasteners.

Part of a stranding machine also known as a cage.

1) An inorganic substance, such as lime, borax, oxalates and phosphates, that is coated on ferrous wires to facilitate the pick-up and retention of lubri­cant on the wire during drawing; also known as a carrier coating. 2) In braiding, the moving part that carries the bobbin on the necessary path to form the braid. 3) A vertical packaging device that is made from tubular steel and widely used to hold drawn wire for shipment and use. These are generally returned to the supplier for reuse.

A star quad cable is normally used for these cables, which are used in pairs, one for transmission in each direction. These cables, from 0.4 to 0.05 in. (1.0 to 1.27 mm), avoid cross talk between cir­cuits. The frequency of each message is changed to a higher pitch so that up to 60 individual messages can be handled in one pair of wires, all at different carrier frequencies which are filtered out at the receiving end and restored to audio fre­quency.

The output of one device connected to the input of another.

Case hardening is the heat treatment of steel so that only the surface is hardened by the chemical addition of carbon or nitrogen. See Carburizing, Carbonitriding.

The housing around a wiredrawing die nib.

Cable developed for outside installation consisting of coated-aluminum-steel-polyethylene. CASP later evolved to CACSP, in which the steel is coated to prevent corrosion.

Iron containing a minimum of 2% carbon (weight percent).

The cast is the size of the circular shape of an individual convolution of wire. The cast is created by offsetting the die so the wire exits at an angle to the die to go to the drawing capstan. When wire is wound around a block, the coil diameter must be that of the block, but when a sample is cut, it is free to take its cast diameter, which could be larger or smaller than the block diameter. The measurement is usually accompanied by a measurement of the helix, which is the amount of spiral that the individual convolution makes.

Wire that is cast to lie in uniform circles with no helix.

Wire that is cast to run out approx­imately straight when unwound from the coil. If the wires, when released, do not conform to the desired shape, this is known as a bad cast.

A material formed directly into a tape by means of flowing or “casting” a solution or dispersion of the film-forming material onto a suitable carrier, then removing the solvent – as opposed to skiving or slicing a block of material into tape form.

The forming of molten metal into a particular shape by pouring the molten material into a precisely shaped mold or die.

Strains resulting from the cooling of a casting and accompanied by residual stresses.

The ratio of the actual distance moved to the height of the abutment during the primary reduction of drawing a billet through a die.