This project aims to investigate and understand the fracture causes of the steel rods/wires during manufacturing of the high grade steel cords through failure analysis and microstructural and defects characterization using innovative techniques, including computational simulation.  Together with the new scientific knowledge generated from the fundamental studies on microalloying of the cord steels with other solutes and on cementite dissolution during cold drawing, new techniques/methods to solve this long-standing problem will be proposed and initially validated.  The outcomes will not only ensure the manufacturing continuity, lowering production cost, but also enable quality improvement and increase the Baosteel’s competitive capacity in this market, creating economic benefits.