FIELD OF INVENTION:
The present invention relates to a thermo-mechanically treated wire rod. More particularly the present invention relates to a process for manufacturing of fully pearlitic medium carbon wire rod by optimizing composition and process parameters.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Wire rods find its usage in varied applications in construction and automotive segments. Low, medium and high carbon steel wire rods containing various other alloying elements are produced to cater to specialized applications. The wire-rods are used as input material for wire drawing operation. Low carbon steel wires are used as binding wires, barbed wires for fencing and robotic welding electrode wires. High carbon wires are used as tire reinforcement in the form of bead wires or tire cord wires, saw wires, pre-stressed concrete wires, and piano wires. These applications require a rigorous specification of chemical composition and mechanical properties to be traced. Thus, to conform to the specifications, each grade is produced through unique combination of hot rolling and stelmor cooling parameters.
The microstructure of low carbon steel wire rod is predominantly ferrite with less than 15% second phase (pearlite) and thus exhibit excellent ductility. These wire rods are easily drawable but have lower strength. Upon drawing operation the ferrite grains elongate and deform in the drawing direction leading to generation of dislocation substructure which subsequently increases the strength of wires. However, drawing of low carbon wire rods reduces the elongation and torsional ductility progressively. In contrast, high carbon wire rods possess very high strength with low ductility. Drawing performance of high carbon steel wire rods depends on the microstructural attributes such as pearlite spacing, nodule size, cementite thickness and presence of proeutectoid ferrite or cementite at grain boundaries.

Presence of proeutectoid ferrite and cementite is detrimental to the drawability of high carbon steel. Thus in order to achieve high strength and ductility, fine fully pearlitic steel is essential.
Medium carbon pearlitic steels provide the best combination of strength and ductility and are applied for producing wires of various types. However the presence of proeutectoid ferrite at the grain boundaries is detrimental for achieving good drawability and high strength required in structural and automotive applications. The micro-structure of medium carbon steel consists of proeutectoid ferrite and pearlite whose equilibrium phase fraction, as calculated from the lever rule is 35 % and 65 % respectively for a 0.5 wt% C steel. However in practice, such wire rods possess around 85 % pearlite in the microstructure due to rapid cooling techniques adopted in wire rod mills, to increase the pearlite fraction. A high pearlite fraction is advantageous both from point of view of higher strength and improved wire drawability. The proeutectoid ferrite may develop strains and micro-cracks during wire drawing leading to failure and also decreases the overall strength by reducing the pearlite fraction. A fully pearlitic structure is thus advantageous for such steels. Therefore in general, rapid cooling of drawn wires is adopted to maximize the pearlite fraction while taking care to prevent formation of martensite or bainite. Thus the challenge is to achieve fully pearlitic microstructure in medium carbon steel having optimum strength and ductility.
Many attempts have been made to develop low-medium carbon steels with fully pearlitic microstructure by continuous cooling or isothermal holding methods. In the work by H. L. Yi , the steel used is rich in chemical alloying with respect to ’Mn’ and ’Al’ with concentration of 2.1 wt% and 2 wt% respectively. However, formation of fully pearlitic microstructure with high alloy content and cooling rate of 20 oCs-1 was not achieved due to the formation of allotriomorphic and widmanstätten ferrite. The continuous cooling strategy was adopted on a cast micro-structure which had a larger prior austenite grain size thus having greater hardenability. The hot rolling

process, however led to a microstructure with higher amount of proeutectoid ferrite due to smaller prior austenite grain size. The work by Bae et al. emphasizes the effect of microstructural features, such as inter-lamellar spacing, prior austenite grain size and the carbon content, on mechanical properties of fully pearlitic 0.52 wt% and 0.82 wt% carbon steels. In these experiments transformation from austenite was carried out under isothermal condition at various holding temperatures in a salt bath. All the work previously done encompasses the development of fully pearlitic steel using medium carbon high alloy steels with isothermal or faster cooling thermal cycles.
Patent US 6,264,759 B1 on wire rods with superior drawability and manufacturing method therefore describes about boron bearing medium carbon steel which possess superior drawability without patenting heat treatment. The microstructure of the above mentioned patent is 90% pearlite and 10% proeutectoid ferrite. Presence of proeutectoid causes breakages during bending or upsetting operations due to weak interface between the proeutectoid and perlite phase.
The patent application number US 2013/0216423 A1 on high carbon steel wire rod having excellent drawability describes about boron bearing high carbon steel with carbon greater than 0.65 wt %. The wire rods are thermo mechanically processed and have a fully pearlitic microstructure. The ductility expressed as reduction in area (RA) in 6 mm diameter wire rod is less than 35 %.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
In view of the foregoing limitations inherent in the prior-art, it is an object of the invention to develop a steel wire rod with ultimate tensile strength ≥ 850 MPa with pearlitic structure > 99% and ductility (reduction in area, RA) > 45% and process for manufacturing thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect, the invention provides a process for manufacturing a steel wire rod comprising steps of casting a billet, heating the billet in a preheating zone of a reheating furnace at temperature 950 - 1050 deg. C, heating the billet in the heating zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1050 - 1150 deg. C, heating the billet in the soaking zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1200 - 1250 deg. C, thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet into a wire rod with subsequent cooling and achieving a laying head temperature (LHT) of 700-950 deg. C. for 5.5 – 14mm diameter wire rods and laid over the a stelmor conveyor in form of coils, and cooling the wire rod by means of high velocity blowers under the stelmor conveyor with air velocity of 5 – 65 m/s.
In another aspect, the invention provides a steel wire rod comprising 0.25 - 0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 – 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminum, up to 0.04 wt.% Sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates various steps of a process for manufacturing a steel wire rod in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
FIGS. 2a & 2b shows the scanning electron micrographs of medium carbon boron micro alloyed 5.5 mm wire rods in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
FIGS. 2c & 2d shows the scanning electron micrographs of medium carbon standard sample (SAE 1050) 5.5 mm wire rods for comparison.

Detailed Description of the Invention
Various embodiments of the invention provide a process for manufacturing a steel wire rod comprising steps of casting a billet / bloom / ingot, the billet / bloom / ingot having chemical composition of 0.25 - 0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 – 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminium, up to 0.04 wt.% sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities; heating the billet / bloom / ingot in a preheating zone of a reheating furnace at temperature 950 - 1050 deg. C, the reheating furnace comprising a heating zone and a soaking zone along with the preheating zone; heating the billet / bloom / ingot in the heating zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1050 - 1150 deg. C; heating the billet / bloom / ingot in the soaking zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1200 - 1250 deg. C; thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet / bloom / ingot into a wire rod with subsequent cooling and achieving a laying head temperature (LHT) of 700-950 deg. C. for 5.5 – 14mm diameter wire rods and laid over the a stelmor conveyor in form of coils; and cooling the wire rod by means of high velocity blowers under the stelmor conveyor with air velocity of 5 – 65 m/s.
In another embodiment the inventions provide a steel wire rod comprising 0.25 -0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 – 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminum, up to 0.04 wt.% Sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities.
Wire rods are produced through the conventional thermo-mechanical process route. Wire rods have varied microstructure depending on the alloying element concentration and processing parameters. The micro-structure should be fully pearlitic to ensure higher strength and drawability. Better ductility (reduction in RA)

represented by the ability to be drawn to thinner diameter, can be ascertained by restricting the composition to medium carbon content. This improvement in ductility is attributed to the finer cementite thickness resulting in increased mean free path for dislocation leading to increased work hardening. The present invention focuses on a fully pearlitic steel wire rods having excellent drawability with improved tensile and torsional ductility. This can be achieved by the usage of medium carbon steel with optimum boron micro-alloying cooled at faster rate.
Boron is a well-known hardenability enhancer used as a micro alloyed element for its optimum effect. This action of boron arises from its ability to diffuse to austenite grain boundaries, and reduce the possibility of ferrite nucleation. This happens because boron reduces the interfacial energy of the parent austenite grains, which suppress the nucleation of ferrite. However, the above mentioned mechanism requires boron to be free in solute form so that they are available to segregate to the grain boundary. The hardenability effect of boron is shadowed by the formation of boron nitride and Fe23(CB)6 which do not leave free boron for segregation. Hence, Titanium is added in stoichiometric amount to fix up the nitrogen to prevent the formation of boron nitride. Borocarbides form at a very slow cooling rate and in the presence of higher concentrations of carbon and boron. They can be avoided to form by tying up carbon with suitable carbide formers like niobium or by employing a faster cooling rate.
With reference to above mentioned idea of developing of medium carbon fully pearlitic steel, steps of a process (100) have been formulated for manufacturing of wire rod having ultimate tensile strength > 850MPa.

At step (104) steel billets / bloom / ingot is casted either from LD or Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) or Induction Furnace having the chemical composition as shown in Table 1.


[C in content of 0.25% to 0.65% (by weight)]
Carbon (C) element is economical and effective for strengthening. With an increasing carbon content, the magnitude of work hardening and strength increase upon wire drawing. A wire rod having a carbon content of less than 0.6% may be difficult to include a fully pearlite structure that is excellent in work hardenability upon wire drawing. To avoid this, the carbon content may be 0.65% or more. However, ductility (reduction in area, RA) and toughness decreases with increase in carbon hence the carbon content may be 0.65% or less. The presence of proeutectoid ferrite in steel microstructure with aforementioned carbon concentration leads to early generation of micro-voids at ferrite pearlite interface which impairs drawability, ductility and strength. The challenge is to achieve a fully pearlitic structure with the carbon content less than 0.65%.
Thus the carbon content is maintained at 0.25 – 0.65%, preferably 0.30 – 0.60%, more preferably 0.35 – 0.55%.
[Si in a content of 0.05% to 1% (by weight)]
Silicon (Si) element is necessary for deoxidation of the steel and an effective ferrite solid-solution hardening element, and therefore, the inter-lamellar spacing of the pearlite becomes fine during continuous cooling and decrease of the strength is prevented during heat treatment of the drawn stock. A wire rod having a low Si content of less than 0.1% may not effectively undergo deoxidation and may suffer from insufficient improvements in strength. In contrast, a Wire rod having an excessively high Si content may suffer from poor ductility of the ferrite phase in the pearlite structure and may suffer from poor ductility after wire drawing. Also, if its content is too excessive, decarburization occurs during the heating of the stock for hot rolling, and the removal of the scales for carrying out drawing becomes difficult.

Thus the Si content is maintained at 0.05 – 1%, preferably 0.1 – 0.8%, more preferably 0.2 – 0.6%.
[Mn in a content of 0.1% to 1.5% (by weight)]
Manganese (Mn) element is useful as a deoxidizer, as Si; effectively contributes to higher strengths of the wire rod by refining the inter-lamellar spacing, and also fixes sulphur in the steel as manganese sulphide MnS to prevent hot embrittlement. To exhibit these effects, Mn may be present in a content of 0.1 % or more. In contrast, manganese element is liable to segregate, and, if present in a content of more than 1.5%, may segregate in a core of the wire rod to form martensite and bainite in the segregated area by lowering the threshold cooling rate thereby adversely affect the drawability. Furthermore, Mn markedly lowers the drawing limit.
Thus the Mn content is maintained at 0.1 – 1.5%, preferably 0.3 – 1.2%, more preferably 0.4 – 1%.
[P in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.04% (by weight)]
Phosphorus (P) element is an inevitable impurity and is preferably minimized. In particular, phosphorus causes solute strengthening of ferrite and thereby significantly causes deterioration of drawability. Phosphorous significantly reduces ductility, toughness and weldability due to segregation at the grain boundaries.
Thus the Phosphorus content is maintained at 0 – 0.04%, preferably 0 – 0.03%, more preferably 0 – 0.02%.
[S in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.04% (by weight)]

Sulphur (S) element is an inevitable impurity and is preferably minimized. In particular, sulphur forms MnS based inclusions and thereby adversely affect drawability.
Thus the Sulphur content is maintained at 0 – 0.04%, preferably 0 – 0.02%, more preferably 0 – 0.01%.
[Ti in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.05% (by weight)]
Titanium (Ti) element is effective as a deoxidizer and improves strength by limiting austenite grain size. Titanium forms carbides and nitrides which are stable at high temperature which is responsible for pinning the grain boundaries and avoid coarsening. Addition of titanium to steel helps in fixing nitrogen allowing boron to be free to show its hardenability effect and improves drawability by reducing dynamic strain aging caused by nitrogen. The element (Ti) therefore contributes to better drawability and also effectively contributes to higher ductility. In contrast, a Wire rod having an excessively high Ti content may suffer from generation of coarse cuboidal titanium carbides/nitrides precipitates in austenite to thereby have insufficient drawability.
Thus Ti content is maintained at 0 – 0.05%, preferably 0.01 – 0.04%, more preferably 0.02 – 0.03%.
[B in a content of 0.0005% to 0.01% (where free boron content is 0.0005% or more) (by weight)]
Boron (B) element is most important hardenability enhancing element by effectively suppressing ferrite formation to achieve a fully pearlitic microstructure. The action of boron arises from its ability to diffuse to austenite grain boundaries and reduce the possibility of ferrite nucleation by reducing the interfacial energy of the parent austenite grains. Boron should be in un-combined (free) form to depict its hardening

effect. As boron exhibits high affinity towards oxygen and nitrogen thus to ensure free boron, the steel is devoid of free oxygen and nitrogen by fixing up by Al and Ti respectively. In contrast, boron, if present in a content of more than 0.01%, may form boron carbides (Fe23(CB)6) which reduces the free boron content and impairs the hardenability leading to absence of a fully pearlite microstructure.
Thus the Boron content should be 0.0005 – 0.01%, preferably 0.0005 – 0.005, more preferably 0.001 – 0.004%.
[N in a content of more than 0 and less than 0.01% (by weight)]
Nitrogen (N) element, when present as solute nitrogen, causes embrittlement during wire drawing and adversely affects the drawability. To avoid these, the solute nitrogen content should be reduced down to 0.0010% or less by allowing Ti to precipitate as titanium nitrides. A wire rod having excessively high nitrogen content may suffer from insufficient fixation of nitrogen by the action of titanium and thereby suffer from dynamic strain aging.
Thus the Nitrogen content is maintained upto 0.01%, preferably 0.001 – 0.009%, more preferably 0.001 – 0.007%.
[Al in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.1% (by weight)]
Aluminium (Al) element is effective as a deoxidizer and forms aluminium nitride AIN to prevent austenite from having a larger grain size. To exhibit the effects, the Al content is preferably 0.005% or more, more preferably 0.010% or more, and furthermore preferably 0.015% or more.
Accordingly, the Al content is maintained at 0 – 0.1%, preferably 0.01 to 0.05%, more preferably 0.02 – 0.04%.

[Cr in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.45% (by weight)]
Chromium (Cr) element effectively improves strength and drawability by refining pearlite lamellae. However, a wire rod having an excessively high Cr content may be susceptible to the formation of undissolved cementite, may suffer from the formation of super cooled structures such as martensite and bainite in a hot-rolled wire rod due to increased hardenability, and may have inferior drawability.
Thus the Cr content is maintained at 0 – 0.45%, preferably 0.1 – 0.4%, more preferably 0.15 – 0.3%.
[V in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.05% and Nb in a content of more than 0% and less than or equal to 0.05% (by weight)]
Vanadium/Niobium disperses as fine carbonitrides, thereby contributes to finer austenite grain size and nodule size, effectively narrows the pearlite lamellar spacing, and effectively contributes to higher strengths and better drawability. Vanadium/Niobium, if present in an excessively high content adversely affects toughness and ductility. To avoid these, the vanadium/niobium content is preferably 0.05% or less, more preferably 0.04% or less, and furthermore preferably 0.03% or less.
Thus the Vanadium/Niobium content should be 0 - 0.05%, preferably 0.01 – 0.04%, more preferably 0.015 – 0.03%.
The preferable composition of the steel wire rod in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Table 2.


After casting the billet / bloom / ingot, the billet / bloom / ingot is heated in a preheating zone of a reheating furnace at temperature 950 - 1050 deg. C at step (108). The reheating furnace comprises the preheating zone, a heating zone and a soaking zone.

At step (112) the billet / bloom / ingot is heated in the heating zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1050 - 1150 deg. C.
At the next step (116), the billet / bloom / ingot is heated in the soaking zone at temperature 1200 - 1250 deg. C.
The reheating time for billet (at preheating zone, heating zone and the soaking zone) is maintained between 1.5 to 3 hours. The temperature of reheating is calculated from the amount of micro-alloys added in the steel.
At step (120), the billet / bloom / ingot is thermo-mechanically rolled into wire rods with Laying Head Temperature (LHT) of 700 - 950 deg. C for 5.5 mm to 14 mm diameter wire rod at step (120).
The reheated billets are rolled to wire rods at a rolling speed, at the finishing stand, is 5 to 100 m/sec. The thermo-mechanical rolling of billets in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is done by using 15 to 30 rolling stands comprising of roughing, intermediate and finishing stands.
After thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet / bloom / ingot into a wire rod, the hot rolled billet / bloom / ingot is short intensively cooled to achieve the laying head temperature of 700 – 950 deg. C. This short intensive cooling is done by means of water box after last rolling stand. Water pressure in the cooling system is preferably maintained between 5 to 30 kg/cm2.
The wire rod is laid over a stelmor conveyor in the form of coil.
At step (124) the wire rod is air cooled by means of high velocity blowers under the stelmor conveyor and subsequently air cooled on conveyor, reforming tub and compacting. The air velocity is maintained at 5 to 65 m/s.

The resulting structure of the wire rod is fully pearlite (>99.0%) with average spacing of 150±11 nm. The hardness and tensile strength of the wire rod is 294±11 Hv and 888±26 MPa respectively. The ductility expressed as the reduction in area, RA of the wire rod is 54±2 %.
The microstructural and mechanical properties of the steel wire rod are as follows: Ultimate tensile strength ≥ 850 MPa
Peralitic structure > 99%
Ductility, as reduction in area RA ≥ 45%
The wire rod obtained via process (100) is also novel in for its composition with 0.25 - 0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 - 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminium, up to 0.04 wt.% Sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities.
Further, the steel wire rod having ultimate tensile strength ≥ 850 MPa, its peralitic structure > 99%, and ductility as reduction in area RA ≥ 45% are also novel.
Advantages
Wire rods developed exhibits superior drawability with best combination of strength and ductility, RA as compared to slightly higher carbon containing reference sample (SAE 1050). The improvement in properties are attributed to fully pearlitic structure obtained in medium carbon boron micro alloyed steel as compared to ferrite pearlite medium carbon steel with a phase fraction of 15 and 85% respectively. The average increment in tensile strength and ductility expressed as reduction in area is 60 MPa and 10% respectively with respect to standard samples (SAE 1050).

EXAMPLES
The above mentioned process for making medium carbon wire rod having >99% pearlitic structure with reduction in area ≥ 45% and ultimate tensile strength ≥ 850 MPa can be validated by the following examples. The following examples should not be construed to limit the scope of invention.
One heat of 150 tons of the composition is prepared through blast furnace - basic oxygen furnace - ladle furnace route, with the use of hot metal, scrap steel and Ferro alloys with a composition of mentioned in Table 2.
The liquid steel is continuously cast into billets of 130 mm X 130 mm X 12 m. The billets are then reheated in walking hearth furnace having three zones, the preheat zone maintained at 1010±10 deg. C, heating zone maintained at temperature of 1120±15 deg. C and soaking zone maintained at temperature 1230±10 deg. C.
The entire reheating time for billets is 2 hours and 30 minutes.
The heated billets are rolled into 5.5 mm section wire rod using 28 rolling stands comprising of roughing, intermediate and finishing stands. The wire rod is further cooled by the water-box cooling. The finish rolling speed is maintained at 92±2 m/s. The wire rod is laid at LHT of 800±20 deg. C.
The cooling is achieved through blower assisted forced air convection on the stelmor conveyor with air velocity of 55 m/s and 25 m/s at corner and centre of the coil respectively. The wire rod is subsequently air cooled on conveyor, reforming tub and compacting.

We claim:
1. A process for manufacturing a steel wire rod, the process comprising steps of:
casting a billet / bloom / ingot, the billet / bloom / ingot having chemical composition of 0.25 - 0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 – 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminium, up to 0.04 wt.% sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities;
heating the billet / bloom / ingot in a preheating zone of a reheating furnace at temperature 950 - 1050 deg. C, the reheating furnace comprising a heating zone and a soaking zone along with the preheating zone;
heating the billet / bloom / ingot in the heating zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1050 - 1150 deg. C;
heating the billet / bloom / ingot in the soaking zone of the reheating furnace at temperature 1200 - 1250 deg. C;
thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet / bloom / ingot into a wire rod with subsequent cooling and achieving a laying head temperature (LHT) of 700-950 deg. C. for 5.5 – 14mm diameter wire rods and laid over the a stelmor conveyor in form of coils; and
cooling the wire rod by means of high velocity blowers under the stelmor conveyor with air velocity of 5 – 65 m/s.
2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reheating of the billet / bloom
/ ingot at the preheating zone, heating zone and the soaking zone is done for
consolidated period of 1.5 to 3 hours.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet / bloom / ingot is done over 15-30 stands.
4. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thermo-mechanical rolling of the billet / bloom / ingot is done at rolling speed on the finishing stand of 5 -100 m/sec.
5. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the billet / bloom / ingot after being thermo-mechanically rolled into wire rod is cooled by a water box and subsequently laid at LHT.
6. The process as claimed in claim 5, wherein the water pressure for cooling is 5kg/cm2 - 30 kg/cm2.
7. The steel wire rod having ultimate tensile strength ≥ 850 MPa manufactured by the process as claimed in any of the claims 1-6.
8. The steel wire rod having peralitic structure > 99% manufactured by the process as claimed in any of the claims 1-6.
9. The steel wire rod having ductility, as reduction in area RA ≥ 45% manufactured by the process as claimed in any of the claims 1-6.
10. A steel wire rod, the steel wire rod comprising:
0.25 - 0.65 wt.% carbon, 0.1 - 1.5 wt.% manganese, 0.05 - 1.0 wt.% silicon, upto 0.45 wt. % chromium, upto 0.05 wt.% niobium, upto 0.05 wt.% vanadium, upto 0.05 wt.% titanium, upto 0.1 wt.% aluminum, up to 0.04 wt.% Sulphur and phosphorous, up to 0.01 wt.% of nitrogen, 0.0005 - 0.01 wt.% boron, and the balance being iron and incidental impurities.
11. The steel wire rod as claimed in claim 10, wherein ultimate tensile strength of
the steel wire rod ≥ 850 MPa.

12. The steel wire rod as claimed in claim 10, wherein peralitic structure of the steel wire rod > 99%.
13. The steel wire rod as claimed in claim 10, wherein ductility as reduction in area RA > 45% for the steel wire rod.