Shearing and Slitting Advanced High Strength Steel – ASKO HXT Knives

Brian P. Shaw, Joel D. Kneisley

ASKO Inc
501 West Seventh Avenue, Homestead, PA 15120
Phone: (412) 461-4110
Email: brian.shaw@askoinc.com; joel.kneisley@askoinc.com
April 7, 2017

Keywords: AHSS, Advanced High Strength Steel, Shearing, Slitting, Knives, Rotary Knives, Side Trimming, Slitting, HXT

ABSTRACT

The mechanical properties of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) are rapidly increasing beyond the capabilities of in-
place processing equipment. Pickle lines, galvanneal lines, and service centers face the challenges of processing steels with
tensile strengths from 600 to 1700 MPa. Most existing equipment and knives were not designed to side trim, scrap chop,
shear, or slit AHSS grades. To address this challenge ASKO has developed its HXT knife technology (patent No. 9,789,551)
to successfully process 3rd generation AHSS on existing equipment, producing optimum sheared edge quality. ASKO HXT
knives have demonstrated 3 to 6 times the life of conventional knives for many pickle lines and processors. By carefully
combining knife material grade, heat treatment, and edge conditioning, ASKO’s HXT knife technology has allowed lines to
not only regain their previous throughput and quality but to surpass it.

INTRODUCTION

Background
During the production of flat rolled steel, cold rolling mills are very dependent upon the prior processes to provide an ample
supply of coils with good edge quality. This incoming edge quality is typically associated with pickle line side trimming.
Without a clean side trimmed coil edge cold mills are prone to produce cracked-edges which can lead to strip breaks,
unplanned downtime and costly equipment damage. Pickle line side trimming is the most common process for rotary
shearing Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). As such, the case studies used for this paper are pickle line side trimming
trials.

In order to put today’s challenge of side trimming AHSS grades in perspective, Table 1 shows historically how increasing
steel tensile strengths have changed the way that straight and rotary shearing knives typically fail. Early grades of steel (pre-
1970) were relatively soft (low tensile strength) and formable compared to the steels used today for similar end applications
such as vehicles. These early steels primarily caused knife edges to end their life by abrasively wearing the cutting edge and
becoming dull. In contrast, AHSS imparts much higher forces onto the knife edge that more quickly initiates fatigue micro
cracks. From this micro crack the knife immediately begins to experience fatigue crack propagation with each revolution of
the knife until a catastrophic “chip” spalls out of the knife edge.

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 Properties Knife Development
Steel
MPa Ksi Primary Failure mode Solution
Low carbon Increase wear resistance
400 60 Abrasive Wear
Pre-1970 of knife material
HSLA Wear resistance &
400 – 600 60 – 90 Abrasive Wear, “Chipping”
1970 – 2000 toughness
AHSS
600 – 1400 90 - 200 Accelerated “Chipping” HXT
2000 - Present
Ultra-HSS 1400 + 200 + Extreme “Chipping” HXT
Table 1. Evolution of knife failure modes with respect to increasing steel tensile strength

Most of today’s side trimming equipment that is used on pickle lines, coating lines, and recoil lines has been designed to
process pre-AHSS steels. When added force or tension is placed on the equipment the first components to prematurely fail or
wear are the ones that are in direct contact with the steel strip, i.e. the knives. AHSS can cause knives to fail 3x – 6x faster
than carbon and HSLA grades.

Exacerbating the severe forces/stresses that AHSS imparts on knives, hot rolled bands of these steels tend to have a larger
than normal difference in tensile strength (hardness) between the middle of the strip and the very edges. Not only is the
middle of the strip higher strength AHSS but the edges may be much higher strength than the reported strength from a typical
bulk material test result. This has been clearly characterized by a research project1 conducted by ArcelorMittal to quantify
this difference that occurs when hot rolled bands of AHSS are air-cooled. (“Control of AHSS Coil Cooling After Hot Rolling
to Improve Downstream Processing” I&ST journal - October 2016) Alternatively, ArcelorMittal’s research shows how this
problematic “hard edge” can be mitigated by slow cooling these hot rolled bands, and resultingly a non-hardened edge is
much easier on the downstream side trimming operation.

Unfortunately, very few mills, pickle lines or side trimming operation have the luxury of receiving hot rolled coils that have
been slow cooled. At this point, the pickle line side trimming operation must be adapted to handle the demands of AHSS. The
simplest way to achieve this is by applying a more durable knife than what has been conventionally used.

Industrial Experiments
Work has been carried out with several standardized trials to prove the effectiveness of ASKO’s HXT knife technology. The
name given to this standard trial method is “2+2 Testing”. The format used to conduct these “2+2 Testing” trials is as
follows.

Once a pickling facility with a side trimming operation has agreed to a trial they will ideally schedule an ample amount of
AHSS coils that will allow the testing process to run its full course. An ample amount typically means 40 or more coils. The
first step of the trial is to install a set of top and bottom HXT side trimmer knives on one side of the line and then have the
incumbent side trimmer knives installed on the opposite side of the line. Next run the operation as normal until the incumbent
knives fail provided that the HXT knives are still operating without failure. Install a new set of incumbent knives in place of
the first set and do not change the HXT knives. Run the line again until the incumbent knives fail. Continue this process until
the HXT knives fail. Be very attentive to how many sets of incumbent knives failed during the amount of time that it took for
the HXT knives to fail. At this point, move the HXT knives to the opposite side of the pickle line to run the same test on the
unused HXT edges against a set of incumbent knives on the side that previously ran the first HXT edges. Similarly, change
out the incumbent knives until the HXT knives fail, and keep careful count of how many incumbent knives equate to one set
of HXT knives.

There are several notable benefits to applying this trial approach for comparing knife performance. First, any coil-to-coil
differences are eliminated. Secondly, by repeating the trial process on the opposite side of the pickle line any difference
between the sides of the line can be ruled out. The end result is that a rapid and direct comparison between two different sets
of side trimmer knives can easily be made.

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 RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Typical Trial Observations and Results

Trial 1:
Date: May 2016 Location: USA, site R
Operation: Pickle line side trimming
Material: Average tensile strength: 880 MPa
Gauge: 0.105” – 0.160”

Table 2. Typical results from “2+2 Testing” conducted on a pickle line side-trimming operation for material with a tensile
strength of 880 MPa
Pickle line, Side A Pickle line, Side B
Knife edge installed Material run until failure Knife edge installed Material run until failure
HXT edge 1 vs. Incumbent edge 1 6 coils
Same vs. Incumbent edge 2 7 coils
Same 19 coils vs. Incumbent edge 3 6 coils
Incumbent edge 4 7 coils vs. HXT edge 2
Incumbent edge 5 6 coils vs. Same
Incumbent edge 6 6 coils vs. Same
Incumbent edge 7 5 coils vs. Same 24 coils

Trial 2:
Date: September 2015 Location: USA, site S
Operation: Pickle line side trimming
Material: Average tensile strength: 780 MPa
Gauge: 0.090” – 0.125”

Table 3. Typical results from “2+2 Testing” conducted on a pickle line side-trimming operation for material with a tensile
strength of 780 MPa.
Pickle line, Side A Pickle line, Side B
Knife edge installed Material run until failure Knife edge installed Material run until failure
HXT edge 1 vs. Incumbent edge 1 350K linear ft.
Same vs. Incumbent edge 2 330K linear ft.
Same vs. Incumbent edge 3 420K linear ft.
Same 1.4M linear ft. vs. Incumbent edge 4 300K linear ft.
Incumbent edge 5 400K linear ft. vs. HXT edge 2
Incumbent edge 6 320K linear ft. vs. Same
Incumbent edge 7 380K linear ft. vs. Same 1.1M linear ft.

Reconditioning
In order to maximize the usage of a side trimming knife all knives are reground or reconditioned to remove the normal
damage and wear along the knife’s cutting edge. Typically, one expects that a reground knife will last for 50 – 60% as long
as the same knife lasted on its first insertion into the line as a new knife. In contrast to this, a key characteristic of the HXT
knives is that after an HXT knife is reconditioned using the proprietary HXT reconditioning process it is able to perform with
100% of the life that it had as a new knife.

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Trial 3:
Date: October 2015 Location: USA, Site S
Operation: Pickle line side trimming
Material: Average tensile strength: 780 MPa
Gauge: 0.090” – 0.125”

Table 4. Trial results showing the typical performance of reconditioned HXT knives.
*Knife edge life when the reconditioned where used as new knives.
Pickle line, Side A Pickle line, Side B
* HXT edge 1 in new condition ran 1.2M linear ft. * HXT edge 2 in new condition ran 1.1M linear ft.
Knife edge installed Material run until failure Knife edge installed Material run until failure
HXT edge 1 reconditioned vs. Incumbent edge 1 335K linear ft.
Same vs. Incumbent edge 2 310K linear ft.
Same vs. Incumbent edge 3 300K linear ft.
Same 1.2M linear ft. vs. Incumbent edge 4 320K linear ft.
Incumbent edge 5 290K linear ft. vs. HXT edge 2 reconditioned
Incumbent edge 6 370K linear ft. vs. Same
Incumbent edge 7 340K linear ft. vs. Same
Incumbent edge 8 320K linear ft. vs. Same 1.3M linear ft.

Figure 1 has been prepared to illustrate the process improvements that have been quantified by the “2+2 testing” method for
HXT side trimming knives. A very significant corresponding general trend that has been noticed over the course of several
“2+2 testing” trials is that as the tensile strength of the material being side trimmed increases, the improvement multiple also
increases. This trend develops from the fact that conventional side trimmers become less and less capable of cutting AHSS
the more the tensile strength increases.

"2+2" Test Results

8.5
9

Improvement 6
Multiple 5

2
2.0
1

0
C.1 G.1 E.1 J.1 A.3 A.4 L.1 A.2 A.1 K.1 F.1 H.1 E.2
Test Site

Figure 1. This line chart displays the multiples of increased throughput per set of HXT pickle line side trimmer knives
compared to the conventional side trimmer knives being used before adopting HXT for side trimming AHSS.

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Discussion
When processing AHSS the typical mode of failure is chipping along the cutting edge as opposed to the knife edge becoming
dull from abrasive wear. Catastrophic chipping can be more accurately described as a fatigue failure. This failure is initiated
by the high stresses that AHSS’s impart into the side trimmer knives. Once a crack is initiated, each revolution of the knife
will either propagate the existing crack one step further or possibly initiate another crack. Without the ability to resist this
crack growth the cracks will eventually lead to material spalling from the cutting edge of the knife. This is commonly
referred to as chipping.

To more fully describe knife failures they can be categorized into either abrasive wear failures or fatigue crack failures. As
previously stated, abrasive wear leads to a gradual dulling of the knife edge until it can no longer make a clean cut. While
HXT may be able to provide some limited benefit for this scenario, it is truly designed for the more common mode of failure
for AHSS which is fatigue cracking.

There are three primary initiation points for fatigue cracks in knives. The first two can be categorized as pre in-service
anomalies which are: (1) a pre-existing steel discontinuity such as an internal crack, void, or inclusion and (2) a surface
discontinuity left from the knife manufacturing process. The third category (3) for a crack initiation point is the in-service
forces that the steel strip imparts upon the knives. The first line of defense for improving knife life is to apply meticulous care
in both selecting a high quality starting knife material and having a tightly controlled knife manufacturing process. The
second line of defense is the application of the HXT manufacturing process which retards the formation and propagation of
catastrophic cracks regardless of how they were initiated.

HXT knife technology has been developed by carefully balancing material selection, heat treating parameters, and machining
methods to create a unique knife recipe for each individual side trimming scenario or product mix. This customized approach
allows the HXT technology to be very adaptable to the ever changing nature of steel. Furthermore, this adaptability has
become quite apparent based on the variation of processing parameters across the “2+2 testing” trials that were the basis for
this paper. As additional industrial trials are conducted, this technology will continue to evolve to improve the side trimming
and shearing capabilities for processors of AHSS.

Trials for additional applications of HXT knife technology have recently begun. These applications include scrap choppers,
slitter knives, and shear blades. It is anticipated that these trials will show a significant improvement in knife performance
and the trials will reveal the improvement multiple for each type of application.

CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS

By applying HXT knife technology to shearing, slitting and side trimming of AHSS to in-place equipment, steel processors
may improve their throughput per knife change by 3 to 6 times that of conventional knife technology. Additional benefits can
be realized in the areas of reduced downtime to change knives, improved cut edge quality, and overall cost reduction. Each
plant that considers HXT knives will have their own motivations of what they want to gain from this technology.

Despite the advances in knife edge durability that HXT provides, utilizing best practices for setting knife clearances and
proper knife reconditioning is still just as important as it is with conventional knives. Optimizing both horizontal gap and
vertical lap will always reduce the stresses that lead to premature knife failure. Achieving this optimization should always be
taken as a first step.

In any steel processing situation that has experienced a decrease in side trimming productivity or trimmed edge quality since
taking on the production of AHSS there is likely to be a tangible benefit from trialing HXT. It is recommended for an
operation that wishes to run a “2+2 testing” trial, that the trial should be well planned and well observed in order to capture
the key results that will verify that the desired process improvements are achieved.

REFERENCES

1. Evgueni I. Poliak, William P. Umlauf, Johnny C. Brannbacka, Olga A. Girina, David Price, Srinivas R. Atreya, Thomas A.
Logan, Joel C. Wotowiec “Control of AHSS Coil Cooling After Hot Rolling to Improve Downstream Processing,” Iron &
Steel Technology, Vol. 13, No. 10, October 2016, pp. 118 - 123

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