Impact of Drawing Machine Parameters on Force and Energy Consumption in Borosilicate Glass Tube Production

Abstract

Middle borosilicate glass tubes are critical materials for medical packaging, with the drawing machine playing a pivotal role in their production process. However, the effects of the drawing wheel’s motion parameters on the glass tube remain underexplored. Therefore, based on the finite element method simulation and validation experiment, the effects of experimental factors (angle of upper and lower drawing wheel, AUD; friction factor of glass and rubber, FFGR; and distance of upper and lower drawing wheel, DUD) on experimental indexes (maximum effective stress of glass tube, MES; rotational speed of glass tube, RSG; maximum and average forward driving force, MFDF and AFDF; maximum and average rotational driving force, MRDF and ARDF; total energy consumption and power, TEC and TPD; maximum and average forward driving power, MFDP and AFDP; and maximum and average rotational driving power, MRDP and ARDP) were analyzed. The results indicated that compared to FFGR and AUD, the influence of DUD on experimental indexes was the highest. The positive influence of AUD on RSG, ARDP, and MRDP, the positive influence of FFGR and the negative influence of DUD on MRDF, ARDF, TEC, TPD, ARDP, and MRDP were found, respectively. These findings will provide a theoretical reference for the optimization of drawing machines.