Drawing

A rolled preform is drawn through a converging gap, usually cold. Round bars and wires as well as two-dimensional sections of often complex cross-sectional shape are drawn through stationary dies or, less frequently, rollers. Tubes may be simply drawn through a die (tube sinking), but more often wall thickness reduction is achieved by drawing over a plug or a bar (also called mandrel, from which the tube is released by cross rolling).

Die costs in these operations are relatively low whereas the production rates can be high, making for low cost, high-precision products of wide size and wall- thickness range.