Abstract: A steel cord and a manufacturing process are disclosed. The steel cord includes a steel core wire located in the center and having a diameter of d; and M sheath-layer steel wires arranged around the steel core wire in the center, tangent to the steel core wire, and having a diameter of d1, at least two gaps L existing between the M sheath-layer steel wires, where M is 4; d, d1, and L satisfy the following relationship: 0.420<(d/d1)<0.800, d1 is between 0.20 mm and 0.44 mm, and L?0.0008 mm. The steel cord of the present invention may allow rubber to be fully penetrated into the gaps, thereby reducing air content in the steel cord, avoiding point contact friction between the layers of steel wires due to insufficient rubber penetration, and further solving the problem of failure of the bearing capacity of the steel cord due to abrasion.