Process for manufacturing an elongated steel element to reinforce rubber products

A process for manufacturing an elongated steel element configured to reinforce rubber products, the process comprising the following steps:

• a step of forming a coating on an elongated steel element, the coating comprising a ternary or quaternary alloy of copper-M-zinc, wherein
• M is one or two metals selected from the group consisting of cobalt, nickel, tin, indium, manganese, iron, bismuth and molybdenum,
• a copper content inside the coating ranges from 58 weight percent to 75 weight percent,
• a content of the one or two metals inside the coating ranges from 0.5 weight percent to 10 weight percent,
• a remainder is zinc and impurities, and
• the one or two metals are present throughout the coating;
• a step of drawing the elongated steel element having the coating formed thereon in an aqueous lubricant containing a phosphorus compound;
• and
• a step of twisting two or more of elongated steel elements into a steel cord performed after the step of drawing the elongated steel element having the coating formed thereon in the aqueous lubricant,
• wherein a final reduction in a diameter of the elongated steel element occurs during the step of drawing the elongated steel element having the coating formed thereon in the aqueous lubricant, the phosphorus compound being present on and/or in the coating in an amount ranging from 0.3 milligram per square meter to 1 milligram per square meter of the coating, as measured via an Inductively Coupled Plasma technique, the aqueous lubricant further comprising nitrate in an amount above a detection level of a ToF-SIMS technique,
• wherein a level of roughness of the elongated steel element ranges from 0.30 μm to 2.0 μm.