EoW January 2010

technology news

Lubricant viscosity control to optimise wire drawing

Nexans has been awarded a €6 million contract by Sevmash, Russia’s largest shipbuilding company, to develop, manu- facture and supply low-temperature and ice-resistant control, instrumentation and power cables for the marine ice- protected Prirazlomnaya stationary oil production platform in the Barents Sea. The Prirazlomnaya platform has been specially constructed for the development of the Prirazlomnoye oil field and is the first oil production project on the Russian Arctic shelf. The area is characterised by extremely low temperatures and high ice loads. Ice-free for only 110 days a year, the annual average temperature is –4˚C while winter temperatures can fall to –50˚C. The severe operating conditions require a unique combination of marine cable technologies to provide low-temperature resistance with fire-resistant, low-smoke and halogen-free properties. Around 850km of the special cables for Sevmash will be produced in the specialised facilities of Nexans Kukdong Electric Wire Co, Korea. Production has already started, and deliveries will continue until the end of 2011. Nexans – France Fax : +33 15669 8484 Email : nexans.web@nexans.com Website : www.nexans.com Ice-resistant cable contract for the Barents Sea

Advertorial on behalf of Decalub

Rod cleaning and wire drawing by DCCD process ▲ ▲

The acid-free DCCD (dry cleaning, coating and drawing) process incorporates lubricant viscosity control that enables demanding wire qualities to be drawn in an economical way, at the highest speed. The system replaces conventional rod preparation (chemical cleaning, rinsing, wet pre-coating and drying) in all direct drawing applications from rod to wire, including 0.85 - 0.88%C mechanically descaled bare rod, without pre-coating chemicals. The result is lower cost, improved wire quality and environmental benefits. The critical aspects of lubrication, friction and wear, part of the complex wire drawing mechanism, are greatly simplified and some problems, such as wire breaks, surface damage and excessive generation of metallic fines, are virtually eliminated. Instantaneous rod dry coating, operating with no speed limit and at zero energy consumption (self-generated by the LVC/ PDH unit), enables an automatic control of crucial variables, including liquefied lubricant thermal stability, a vital parameter that prevents metal-to-metal contact at the wire-die interface. This allows high drawing speed and wear performance of 0.1–0.3 micron per ton of wire drawn. Full film consistent coatings are achieved in a range from a strongly adherent hard multi-coat layer for high-tensile spring wire or PC strand wire, to an ultra thin nano-coat water-soluble film for plating wire. Benefiting from the recent development in rod dry preparation and wire lubrication mode, the DCCD process provides reliability and potential for improved steel wire production. Decalub – France Fax : +33 1 6020 2021 Email : info@decalub.com Website : www.decalub.com Cable machinery manufacturer Chinese manufacturer, Wai Tak Lung Machinery Ltd (WTL) is a developer, designer and producer of wire and cable machinery, including cable extrusion lines, single-twist cabling, bunching machines, cable coiling and wire braiding machines. Wai Tak Lung Machinery Ltd – China Fax : +86 769 8555 1407 Email : wtldongn@pub.dgnet.gd.cn Website : www.chinacablemachine.com

31

EuroWire – January 2010