Metallurgy

ELHACHMI ESSADIQI , UIR

4th of Automotive Engineering

2019/2020
Rolling process
Rolling is one of the most important
bulk deformation techniques. For
example, it is used to reduce the
cross-section of large ingots or
plate, which emerge from the ingot
or continuous casting techniques.

four-high rolling mill.

two-high rolling mill

Types of Mills
• Two-High Rolling Mills
• Three-High Rolling Mills
• Four High Rolling Mills
• Cluster Mills
• Tandem Rolling
 Two-High Mills

• Used for hot rolling in the initial passes

• Used on cast ingots
• Used in continuous casting
• Roll diameters .06m- 1.4m
Three-High Mills
• Aka reversing mills
• Plate or material being rolled will be raised and
lowered throughout the machine from upper to lower
roll gaps.
Four-High Mills
• Same principles as cluster mills, Sendzimir
mills or Z
mills
• Utilize smaller rolls for lower roll forces
• Also lower power requirements and reduce
spreading
• Rolls are cheaper to replace
• Small rolls deflect more so they must be
supported by smaller rolls
• Very adept for cold rolling thin sheets high-
strength materials
Cluster, Sendzimir or Zmill
Tandem Rolling
• Strip of Material continuously rolled through several stands
• Gauges of stands get smaller progressively
• Each stand (train) has its own rolls
• Requires highly automated systems to control thickness and speed
Rolls
• Rolls must be made of materials with high strength and resistance to
wear

• Common materials include cast iron, cast steel and forged steel

• Forged steel has higher strength, stiffness and toughness but costs more

• Tungsten carbides can be used for smaller diameter rolls

• Rolls are polished for cold-working and special applications

• Rolls are heat specific-misuse results in heat checking and spalling

Rolling process

Entry side of a four-high mill for

the production of plate. Each
work roll is driven by a 6000
horsepower (4470 kW) direct
current motor.
Rolling process
Four-high mill consists of
two driven work rolls, with
large back-up rolls that
provide increased stiffness.

Four-high mills are used

when the sheet thickness
must be controlled
accurately.
Three-stand four-high tandem mill for cold rolling.
Note temperature increase due to heat generation during rolling.
Rolling process advantage

• The mill is very stiff and resists

deflection

• Allowing very fiat sheet to be

produced.

• Allowing lighter gauges to be

produced.

Arrangement of rolls in a Sendzimir mill

Rolling process
Plates
• Thickness of >6mm Structural applications
• Ship hulls, boilers, bridges, machinery, and nuclear vessels

Sheets
• Thickness of <6mm
• Typically provided as coils or flat sheets Large variety of applications
Cold rolling
• Cold rolling is usually defined as processing at less than 0.3 of the absolute melting
temperature.
• Much better surface finish and dimensional control are achieved by cold rolling.

• The final rolling pass for most quality critical applications is cold.

• Recrystallization does not occur during cold rolling, a strain hardened

microstructure consisting of plastically deformed grains elongated in the rolling
direction is produced.

• Proper selection of cold rolling reductions is essential to optimize the mechanical

properties of the finished product.
Hot rolling
• Thick gauges, greater than
about 6 mm, are almost
always hot rolled, which is
defined as rolling at a
temperature greater than the
recrystallization temperature,

• A recrystallized micro
structure results from hot
rolling due to dynamic
recrystallization,

Schematic representation of grain structure produced during hot rolling

Hot rolling
Flat-Rolling Process
• Roll gap, L
• Where reduction occurs
• Relative sliding
• To the right of the no-slip point, material moves faster than the roll
• To the left of the no-slip point, material moves slower than the roll
Flat-Rolling Process
• Draft
• Difference between the initial and final strip thicknesses (ho – hf)
• Frictional Forces
• Required to move workpiece
• Must be overcome, increasing rolling forces and power requirements
Flat-Rolling Process
• Roll force
• Lateral force required to compress the workpiece
• Perpendicular to the plane of the strip

• Reducing roll force

• Reducing friction
• Using smaller-diameter rolls
• Taking smaller reductions-per-pass
• Rolling at elevated temperatures
• Applying tensions to the strip
Flat-Rolling Process

• Tension (Longitudinal Force)

• Back tension
• Force applied to the strip at the entry zone
• Apply a braking action to the reel supplying the sheet into the roll gap (pay-off
reel)
• Front tension
• Force applied to the strip at the exit zone
• Applied by increasing the rotational speed of the reel receiving the sheet from
the roll
gap (take-up reel)
 Flat-Rolling Process
• Geometric considerations
• Due to roll forces, rolls may bend
(deflection)
• Causes the rolled strip to be thicker
at its center than at its edges
(crown)
• Corrected for by making the rolls
larger diameter at their center
(camber)
• To counteract deflection, the rolls
can also be externally bent at their
bearings
Rolling forces and power
• The forces during flat rolling can be calculated by
estimating the contact length, L.

• By applying Pythagoras's theorem to the triangle

abc and neglecting second-order terms, the
contact length between the roll face and the
workpiece can be estimated as:

where:
L is the roll contact length
R is the roll radius
ho is the entry thickness of the sheet Geometry of flat rolling
h1 is the exit thickness of the sheet.
Rolling forces and power
• When h/L < 1 (i.e. the rolls are large compared to the sheet thickness)
deformation will be nearly plane strain and relatively homogeneous,
and the roll pressure can be estimated in a fashion similar to that for
forging rectangular parts

where:
Pr is the roll pressure
σtm is the mean flow stress
Qp is the multiplying factor
The roll force can be calculated from

where w is the width of the rolled strip.

Rolling forces and power
• Note that although the length of the rolled strip increases, the width remains
essentially constant if W/h1 > 10, which is the case for most commercial
rolling operations.

• If h/L > 1 (i.e. the workpiece is thick compared to roll radius) then
inhomogeneous deformation predominates. The roll pressure is obtained
from a relationship similar to the previous equation, except that a different
multiplying factor is used, so that:

where Qi is the multiplying factor for inhomogeneous deformation

Rolling forces and power

For hot rolling, the mean flow stress must correspond to the average strain rate, which is

where υ is the roll face velocity

Rolling forces and power
• Inhomogeneous deformation during rolling can lead to the
alligatoring defect, sometimes referred to as split ends.

• Such defects must be avoided, as the thick sections involved can

cause substantial damage to the ancillary equipment of the mill
stand.

• Analysis of the rolling process using the upper bound technique

(briefly described later in this chapter) indicates that alligatoring
occurs if the rolling geometry satisfies the inequality

Illustration of alligatoring that can

form during rolling due to
inhomogeneous deformation
Rolling forces and power
• By assuming that the rolling force acts roughly in the center of the contact length (L) and
that both the upper and lower rolls are driven (which is the usual practice), the rolling
torque can be estimated as:

Where T is the rolling torque.

• The power requirement can be calculated from the torque as

where ɯ is the angular velocity of the rolls.

 Defects
• Adversely affect strength, formability, and
other manufacturing characteristics
• Wavy edges (a)
• Result from roll bending and is thinner along
its edges than at its center
• Cracks (b & c)
• Usually result from poor material ductility
• Alligatoring (d)
• Typically caused by defects in the original cast
material
Other characteristics
• Residual stresses
• Small-diameter rolls tend to deform the metal more at its surface than in its bulk
• Large-diameter rolls tend to deform the metal more in its bulk than at its surface
• Dimensional tolerances
• Thickness tolerances for cold-rolled sheets are
more stringent than for hot-rolled sheets
• Due to thermal effects, the final thickness of
hot-rolled sheets is more difficult to predict
• Surface roughness
• Hot-rolled sheets are likely to require finishing
operations, while cold-rolled sheets likely are
not
• Gage numbers
• Smaller number = thicker sheet
Thank you

Pr. ELHACHMI ESSADIQI 2021/2022