Page 261 - Fiber Fracture

244 K. Yoshida

Fix. 2. Wiredrawing operation using a waterwheel in old Japan.

PRESENT CONDITION OF PRODUCTION OF SUPERFINE WIRES

Minimum Diameter of Wires in Products

The author studied the smallest diameter of various wires in commercially available
products and wires in the research stage based on questionnaires distributed to approx-
imately 70 major Japanese wiredrawing manufacturers (see Table 1; Yoshida, 2000b).
Other than titanium wires, superfine wire products up to around 15 p,m in diameter,
regardless of whether they are steel or nonferrous wires, are now available on the
market. In research, various materials have been thinned into superfine wires of down to
10 Fm diameter (Yoshida, 200021).
Superfine steel wires are used for printing meshes, filters, steel cords, saw wires, wire
ropes, precision springs, and precision screws and pins. On the other hand, superfine
nonferrous wires are used for semiconductor bonding wires, magnet wires, materials for

Table I. Minimum diameter and use of superfine wires on the market and in the laboratory in Japan (1998)
Material Diameter (um) Use of the uroducts
on the market laboratory
Special mild steel -15 -12 Fishing line
Low-carbon steel -100 - Screw, pin, bolt
High-carbon steel 150-16 100-10 Steel cord, sawing wire cable, spring
Stainless steel 30-15 20-10 Screen mesh, mesh of filter wire rope
Titanium 100-50 10-5 Mesh of filter, wire rope stiffening wire
Shape-memory alloy -40 -10 Fishing line, antenna
Amorphous 20- 15 30-10 Sensor, stiffening wire
Gold 50-15 -15 Bonding wire
Copper 15-10 15-7 Electronic wire, bonding wire
Aluminum 30-20 - 20 Electronic wire, bonding wire