Design and Fabrication of a One Stand Hot Tandem Rolling Mill

Abstract

Over the years, metalworking processes have emerged as a promising paradigm to modify materials' intrinsic workability and microstructural evolution. However, due to the stringent requirement of the state-of-the-art, non-uniform original grain structure of the metal ingot comprising large columnar grains growth in the direction of solidification, resulting in brittleness, weak grain boundaries, shrinkage, porosity, etc. remain a major bottleneck. This paper proposes a novel metalworking process to overcome this challenge. In particular, a one-stand hot tandem rolling mill that can break the grain structure and destroy the boundaries having uniform grain structures is developed. The proposed one-stand hot tandem rolling mill was constructed using 60 mm diameter work rolls, 150 mm diameter backup rolls, 120 mm diameter spur gears, a 3 hp electric motor, and a 50 mm diameter shaft. The components were installed, and the roll was fixed at a roll gap of 60 mm. Experimental investigations using a 65 mm aluminium sheet metal at a draft of 5 mm per pass after heating the metal sheet above its re-crystallization temperature were performed to validate the superiority of the proposed model. Available results indicate a robust improvement in the toughness, strength, and resistance of materials. Specifically, the results showed an efficiency of 86 % at an average draft of 4.3mm per pass.