• • The binary anionic surfactant system (SDBS/SL) achieved a synergistic parameter β = −2.34, indicating strong synergistic adsorption, which enabled homogeneous dispersion stability for up to 60 days—a significant improvement over single-surfactant systems that typically destabilize within days, directly addressing the bottleneck of lubricant shelf-life in industrial wire drawing.
• • MD and DFT simulations revealed that the synergistic stabilization arises from combined steric hindrance, electrostatic repulsion, π-π stacking, and hydrogen bonding, which collectively increased the interfacial formation energy at the graphite/surfactant/water tri-phase interface, providing a mechanistic basis for rational surfactant design.
• • In wire drawing trials, the optimized graphite lubricant reduced the friction coefficient between die and tungsten wire to 0.06, compared to higher values with single-surfactant benchmarks, leading to drawn wires with superior surface integrity, expanded loop diameter, and enhanced tensile strength—critical for high-performance refractory metal wires.
• • The synergistic strategy is envisioned to be extendable to other refractory metal wires (e.g., molybdenum, rhenium), offering a scalable approach to improve lubricant performance and product quality across the wire drawing industry.