Hot rolled wire rod (wire) applications

Wire rod is the smallest cross-sectional dimension of hot-rolled steel. In my country, hot-rolled round steel supplied in coils with diameters ranging from 5 to 9 mm in eight sizes is generally called wire rod.

Because it is delivered in coils, wire rod is also called wire rod. The concept of wire rod abroad differs slightly from that in my country. Besides round cross-sections, it also has other shapes, and its diameter varies depending on demand and production technology. Depending on the rolling mill, it can be divided into high-speed wire rod (high-speed wire) and ordinary wire rod (ordinary wire).
Wire rod is generally made from ordinary carbon steel and high-quality carbon steel. Depending on the steel distribution catalog and application, wire rod includes ordinary low-carbon steel hot-rolled round wire rod, high-quality carbon steel wire rod, carbon welding wire rod, quenched and tempered threaded wire rod, wire rod for wire rope, wire rod for music wire, and stainless steel wire rod.

Wire rod classification is as follows:
Based on the chemical composition of the steel, wire rod can be divided into two categories: carbon steel, which can be further divided into low-carbon steel, medium-carbon steel, and high-carbon steel based on carbon content; and alloy steel. Currently (1992), wire rod steel primarily consists of over thirty types of steel, including ordinary low-carbon steel, high-quality carbon steel, welding rod steel, wire rope steel, stainless acid-resistant steel, heat-resistant steel, and rolling bearing steel.

By cross-sectional shape, wire rods come in round, square, oval, trapezoidal, and special-shaped shapes. Square shapes are rare, special-shaped shapes are even rarer, and round cross-sections are more common.

Wire rods are primarily used in two ways: as a building material and as a raw material for wire drawing.

Wire rods used for building materials come from ordinary low-carbon steel, high-quality carbon steel, and carbon spring steel. Round and threaded shapes are available. Diameters of 6 to 25 mm are the most common, with diameters of 28 to 32 mm also common. Wire rods used in building materials must have a consistent chemical composition and weldability, as well as uniform and stable physical properties to facilitate cold bending, cold drawing, and cold drawing. Wire rods of various diameters for construction projects are preferably delivered in coils, allowing for easy cutting to desired lengths and avoiding waste.

While wire used as raw material for wire drawing comes in a wide variety of steel grades, it is only available in round form. To reduce the number of drawing cycles, the diameter is generally 5 to 9 mm, though wire with a diameter greater than 10 mm is also used for special applications. Wire used as raw material for wire drawing must ensure uniform and stable chemical composition and physical properties, a metallographic structure that is as sorbitized as possible, precise dimensions, a smooth surface, and a thin, easily removable scale.

In general, wire has a wide range of uses. Some wire can be used directly after rolling, primarily for reinforced concrete reinforcement and welded structural components. Others are used as reprocessed raw materials. For example, wire can be drawn into various types of steel wire, twisted into wire rope, or woven into wire mesh; hot or cold forged into rivets; cold forged and rolled into bolts; various cutting processes and heat treatments to make machine parts or tools; and coiled and heat-treated into springs.

Wire used Technical Requirements
Wire used in construction must ensure consistent chemical composition and weldability, possessing suitable mechanical properties and uniform stability to facilitate cold bending and load-bearing.
Wire used for wire drawing must also ensure uniform and stable chemical composition, metallographic structure, and mechanical properties. The metallographic structure should be sorbite whenever possible to reduce the number of annealing steps during the cold drawing process. Furthermore, the dimensions should be precise, generally with a diameter of less than 12 mm. The surface should be smooth, with a thin, easily pickle-removable oxide scale. Surface defects such as ears and folds should be absent.

Hot-rolled wire rod specifications:
Diameters: Φ5.5mm, Φ6.0mm, Φ6.5mm, Φ8.0mm, Φ10.0mm, Φ12.0mm, Φ16.0mm, etc.
Material: Q235A, Q235B, HRB400, HRB500, etc.
Compliant standards: GB/T701-97, GB/T1498-94, etc.

Wire Applications:
1. Ordinary Low-Carbon Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (GB701-65)
Ordinary Low-Carbon Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod is made from low-carbon, ordinary carbon structural steel or carbon structural steel with a low yield point. It is the most widely used and most widely used wire rod, also known as soft wire.
Main Applications: Ordinary wire rod is primarily used for reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures. It can also be cold-drawn into steel wire for bundling and other applications.

2. Ordinary Low-Carbon Steel Torsion-Free Controlled Cold-Rolled Wire Rod (ZBH4403-88)
Torsion-Free Controlled Cold-Rolled Wire Rod is produced by controlled cooling after rolling on a torsion-free high-speed wire rod mill. While the material is the same as ordinary wire, it offers advantages such as high dimensional accuracy, excellent surface quality, and superior mechanical properties.
Main Applications: Dimensional accuracy for torsion-Free Controlled Cold-Rolled Wire Rod is classified into three grades: A, B, and C. Grades A, B, and C are suitable for wire drawing, construction, packaging, and welding applications, while grades B and C are suitable for processing into bolts, screws, and nuts.

3. High-Quality Carbon Steel Wire Rod (GB4354-84)

High-Quality Carbon Steel Wire Rod is rolled from high-quality carbon structural steel. It is one of the most widely used wire rod varieties. Main Applications: High-quality carbon steel wire rod is primarily used for the manufacture of carbon spring steel wire, oil-quenched and tempered carbon spring steel wire, prestressed steel wire, high-strength high-quality carbon structural steel wire, galvanized steel wire, and galvanized stranded wire rope.

4. High-quality Carbon Steel Torsion-Free Controlled Cooling Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (ZBH44002-88)
High-quality carbon steel torque-free controlled cooling hot-rolled wire rod is produced on a torque-free high-speed wire mill and undergoes a controlled cooling treatment after rolling. Compared to high-quality carbon steel wire rod, it offers higher dimensional accuracy, better surface quality, and superior mechanical properties.
Main Applications: The main applications are the same as for high-quality carbon steel wire rod. It is commonly used in the manufacture of carbon spring steel wire, oil-quenched and tempered carbon spring steel wire, prestressed steel wire, high-quality carbon structural steel wire, and galvanized steel wire.

5. Rope Wire Wire Rod (YB349-64)
Rope wire wire rod is a type of high-quality carbon structural steel hot-rolled round wire rod.
Main Application: Rope wire rod can be made from high-quality carbon structural steel grades 35, 40, 45, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, and 85. Its chemical composition complies with GB699 (Technical Conditions for High-Quality Carbon Structural Steel).

6. No-Twist Controlled Cold-Rolled, Hot-Rolled Wire Rod for Rope Wire (ZBH44004-88)
Rope wire wire rod is made from no-twist controlled cold-rolled coil and high-quality carbon structural steel on a no-twist wire mill, followed by controlled cooling. The resulting wire rod exhibits high dimensional accuracy, excellent surface quality, and superior mechanical properties.
Main Application: Primarily used for drawing rope wire and stranded wire.

7. Carbon Welding Steel Wire Rod (GB3429-82)
Carbon welding steel wire rod is hot-rolled from low-carbon, high-quality carbon structural steel.
Main Application: Mainly used for manufacturing welding core for manual arc welding.

8. Carbon Welding Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod with Torsion-Free Controlled Cooling (ZBH44005-88)
Carbon welding steel hot-rolled wire rod with torque-free controlled cooling is produced on a locked twisting wire mill and subjected to controlled cooling after rolling. It offers high dimensional accuracy, excellent surface quality, and superior performance, making it a high-quality welding steel wire rod.
Main Application: Mainly used for manufacturing carbon steel hot-rolled round wire rod with a coated welding core.

9. Alloy Structural Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (GB3077-82)
Alloy Structural Steel hot-rolled wire rod is made from alloy structural steel. Alloy structural steel is classified into 26 steel groups and 78 steel grades. Each manufacturer selects a specific grade for production based on customer requirements and specific applications.
Main Application: Alloy structural hot-rolled wire rod is primarily used for drawing steel wire, metal products, and structural parts.

10. Carbon Tool Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (GB1298-86)
Carbon tool steel is rolled from high-quality or premium high-quality high-carbon steel. It offers excellent workability and wear resistance, and is economical.
Main Application: Primarily used for drawing steel and manufacturing tools.

11. Alloy Tool Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (GB1299-77)
Alloy tool steel is a steel produced by adding alloying elements such as chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, silicon, manganese, nickel, and cobalt to a carbon tool steel matrix. Compared to carbon tool steel, it exhibits better hardenability, less tendency to crack during heat treatment, and higher wear and heat resistance. Alloy tool steel hot-rolled wire rod is made from 33 grades of alloy tool steel from five steel groups. Produced by Dalian Steel Plant, Benxi Steel Plant, and Shaanxi Steel Plant, respectively.
Main Applications: Suitable for the manufacture of measuring tools, cutting tools, cold and hot working dies, impact-resistant tools, etc.

12. Spring Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (GB1222-84)
Spring steel is a type of steel used to manufacture springs or other elastic components. Springs and elastic components primarily utilize their elastic deformation to absorb and store energy, thereby mitigating vibration and impact or enabling mechanical parts to perform certain movements. Because spring steel operates under conditions of shock, vibration, or long-term, uniform, cyclic alternating stress, it requires high yield strength, particularly a high yield strength ratio (yield strength to tensile strength), high elastic fatigue strength, and high resistance to high temperatures and corrosion. Spring steel should also have good surface quality.
Spring steel is available in two categories: carbon spring steel and alloy spring steel, with a total of 17 grades.
Main Applications: Spring steel hot-rolled wire rod is primarily used to produce coil springs for various applications.

13. Ball Bearing Steel Hot-Rolled Wire Rod (YB9-68)
Ball bearing steel, also known as bearing steel, is a grade of steel used to manufacture the rings (sleeves) and rolling elements (balls) of various rolling bearings. Due to its specialized applications, bearing steel requires high and uniform hardness and wear resistance, high elasticity and fatigue strength, sufficient toughness and hardenability, and a certain degree of corrosion resistance in atmospheric environments or lubricants. Some special-purpose rolling bearings also require high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, non-magnetic properties, ultra-low-temperature performance, high precision, and long life. Therefore, the selection and quality requirements for bearing steel are more stringent than those for general steel.
Bearing steel typically refers to high-carbon chromium steel, but there are also carburized bearing steel and high-carbon chromium stainless bearing steel. Five steel grades are commonly used to produce ball bearing steel hot-rolled wire rod.
Main Application: Ball bearing steel hot-rolled wire rod is primarily used to manufacture bearing steel balls.

14. Stainless Steel Wire Rod (GB4356-84)
Stainless steel wire rod is hot-rolled from various grades of stainless steel with varying microstructures.
Main Applications: Stainless steel wire rod is primarily used to manufacture stainless steel wire, stainless spring steel wire, stainless forging wire, and stainless wire rope. Depending on its primary industrial application, stainless steel wire rod is divided into stainless steel and stainless acid-resistant steel wire rod.

15. Welding Stainless Steel Wire Rod (GB4241-84)
Welding stainless steel wire rod differs from general stainless steel wire rod in chemical composition. To ensure excellent welding performance and improve weld quality, welding stainless steel wire rod features a low carbon content, low levels of toxic impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur, and high nickel and chromium content.
Main Applications: Primarily used in the manufacture of welding rod steel core and welding wire.