A method for preparing niobium-zirconium alloy wire for electric light sources includes the following steps: 1. Forging a niobium-zirconium alloy ingot using a die to obtain a forged billet; 2. Performing a first-stage annealing treatment on the forged billet; 3. Performing die rolling to obtain a rolled billet; 4. Performing a second-stage annealing treatment on the rolled billet; 5. Performing roll drawing to obtain a drawn billet; 6. Performing a third-stage annealing treatment on the drawn billet; 7. Performing forming drawing to obtain a semi-finished wire; 8. Performing a fourth-stage annealing treatment to obtain the niobium-zirconium alloy wire for electric light sources. This invention features a simple and easy-to-implement manufacturing process, high yield, and high production efficiency. The niobium-zirconium alloy wire prepared using this invention has excellent surface quality, superior mechanical properties, and uniform grain size, making it widely applicable in the electric light source industry.
High-pressure sodium lamps made of niobium-zirconium alloy are a third-generation electric light source, boasting advantages such as high luminous efficiency, low power consumption, long lifespan, strong fog penetration, and non-insect attraction. They are widely used in the domestic and international electric light source field, including lighting for highways, airports, docks, shipyards, stations, squares, industrial and mining enterprises, parks, and other locations. Due to the similar coefficient of thermal expansion between niobium-zirconium alloy and the ceramic components of high-pressure sodium lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps made of niobium-zirconium alloy hold an irreplaceable position in the electric light source industry. Traditionally, high-pressure sodium lamps use niobium-zirconium alloy tubing. However, with continuous development and improvement in manufacturing technology, niobium-zirconium alloy wire, with its advantages of low price and high subsequent processing efficiency, has the potential to replace niobium-zirconium alloy tubing.
With the continuous growth of China's economy and the government's sustained investment in infrastructure, urban development has driven rapid changes in road construction. According to relevant statistics, the number of streetlights in China has exceeded ten million and is growing at a rate of 20% annually. The high-pressure sodium lamp industry is expected to expand further in the future. As mentioned above, niobium-zirconium alloy wire for electric light sources has broad application prospects and good economic benefits.
In the subsequent deep processing of niobium-zirconium alloy wire, namely in the manufacture of high-pressure sodium lamps, a portion of the wire needs to be spun into a tubular shape. To meet the requirements of deep processing, high demands are placed on the mechanical properties, grain structure, and surface quality of the niobium-zirconium alloy wire.
The traditional manufacturing method for niobium and niobium alloy wire mainly involves extrusion blanking, rotary forging or fixed-die drawing, combined with vacuum annealing. The disadvantages of the traditional manufacturing method for niobium-zirconium wire are as follows: Due to the extrusion blanking process, the long extrusion tail results in a low product yield; niobium-zirconium alloys are characterized by their softness, high processing heat, and poor metal fluidity. If rotary forging is used after extrusion, the deformation method is limited, and multiple rotary forging passes can cause surface folding of the blank, forming a fine-grained layer after subsequent vacuum annealing, affecting the wire's performance; if multi-pass fixed-die drawing is used after extrusion, surface oxidation pretreatment is required before drawing, significantly reducing production efficiency.
The technical problem to be solved is to address the shortcomings of the existing technology by providing a simple, easy-to-implement, high-yield, and high-efficiency method for preparing niobium-zirconium alloy wires for electric light sources. The niobium-zirconium alloy wires prepared using this method have excellent surface quality, superior mechanical properties, and uniform grain size, making them widely applicable in the electric light source industry. The adoption of a die-drawing forging process to replace the traditional extrusion forging process effectively reduces defects such as head-tail shrinkage and surface folding in niobium-zirconium alloys, significantly improving product yield. The use of a combined die rolling and roll drawing process replaces the traditional rotary forging and fixed-die drawing process. Because the combined die rolling and roll drawing process and deformation method differ from traditional fixed-die drawing, surface oxidation pretreatment is unnecessary, greatly improving production efficiency. It also avoids the severe surface deformation and fine-grained layer problems caused by rotary forging. Furthermore, while the wire produced by the roll drawing process has the advantages of high surface finish and fewer defects, its dimensional uniformity and ellipticity are poor. Therefore, this invention ultimately uses a fixed-die drawing process for dimensional finishing.
Based on a more easily implemented, higher yield and production efficiency, and superior product surface quality manufacturing process for niobium-zirconium alloy wires for electric light sources, the final product is a niobium-zirconium alloy wire with excellent mechanical properties, uniform grain size, excellent surface quality, and high dimensional accuracy.
