The influence of structure evolution and defects of 304H stainless steel wire during the cold drawing process from Φ2.6 mm to Φ0.89 mm on torsion performance of stainless steel wire are studied. The results show that when the true cold drawing strain of the steel wire is between 0 and 1.39

the torsion performance decreases sharply and the number o£ torsion decreases ； when the true cold drawing strain is between 1.39 and 2. 14

the torsion performance gradually rises and the number of torsion increases. With the application of strain

work hardening leads to the deterioration of plastic toughness by dislocation plugging

which is the main factor for the decrease of torsional performance

and the increase in the content of {111} //ND texture at this stage is also not conducible to the torsional performance；as the strain is further increased

and the internal grains of steel wire are refined into ultra-fine grains

leading to further increase in strength and recovery of plastic toughness

which are the main factors for the rebound of torsion performance

and the decrease of {111}//ND texture content is also available to torsion performance. However

when the true cold drawing strain exceeds 1.39

the average areal density of inclusions also increases

which hinders the further recovery of the torsional performance of the steel wire.