Hello everyone,
I am working on a project on evaluation of new lubricant for wire drawing of MP35N alloys and platinum alloys for medical applications, currently we are using a water based lubricant for the applications and the die wear is below 3km run, so we intend to change to some oil based lubricants , so can anyone please suggest what are the best available oil based lubricants for drawing metals like MP35N which have high strain hardening.
Since it is for medical applications the lubricants should be free from VOC compounds. I having a hard time finding a lubricant which can have both performance and at the same time satisfy the medical requirements. Can anyone of you please suggest based on your expertise and experience

Hello srikanth37,

Your request is quite difficult because MP35N alloy or cobalt multiphase alloy is a nonmagnetic, nickel-cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy that is not commonly manufactured. Moreover, you have placed the limitations of drawing oils with no VOCs* in the equation.

We suggest you contact RichardsApex www.richardsapex.com to see if they have a solution for you. Near Sydney, Australia, their coordinates are as follows:

Mr. Kyle Craft, Managing Director
RichardsApex Australia/Asia
PO Box 1078
Unanderra, 2526
New South Wales, Australia
Phone: +61 2 42 717400
Fax: +61 2 42 717422
Mobile: 0417 448 955
E-Mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*VOCs is short for Volatile Organic Compounds. These are organic compounds with high enough vapor pressure under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere. The most common VOC is methane, the primary component of natural gas. VOCs are also released in agriculture and when burning biomass such as wood. Common artificial VOCs include paint thinners, dry cleaning solvents and gasoline. Canada defines VOCs as organic compounds that have boiling points roughly in the range of 50 to 250 °C but we do not know what your local definition is.

Regards
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com
519 641-3212

Dear Mr Stewart-Hay,
Thank you very much for the contacts and the information, yes you are right in mentioning that it is not commonly manufactured but as we are a firm which need to make wires for medical applications we are working on that. The reason for mentioning the VOC is since it is for medical applications any toxic remains of solvent on the wire can be hazardous and risky even how best we clean the wire after WD. I have written to Richards Apex on my query and hope to hear something good from them.
Thank you once again
Regards
Srikanth