The effects of cold drawing on pearlitic steels wires make them suitable for a broad range of high
performance applications in engineering. Briefly, at the macroscopic level, the consequences of cold
drawing are, namely, a noticeable increment of the wire resistance and a clear improvement of material
toughness. These improvements of mechanical properties of the cold drawn steel are caused by
microstructural changes [1-2] during cold drawing (reduction of interlamellae spacing, slenderising of
pearlitic colonies and progressive orientation of both pearlite colonies and lamellae). However a nonuniform
distribution of plastic strain after cold drawing is the origin of an undesired effect of
manufacturing: the appearance of a distribution of residual stresses at the end of the process [3].
The residual stresses and plastic strains generated after cold drawing process are not negligible [3] and
consequently these states should be taken into account to achieve a better approach to the real mechanical