Measurement of Thermal Load on Working Rolls during Hot Rolling

Abstract

AbstractWork rolls in hot rolling mills are thermally and mechanically loaded; both of these loading aspects are difficult to measure. Laboratory tests can be used for the specification of the thermal load in the cooling area; however a thermal load in a roll gap is still difficult to measure. The paper describes an experimental technique developed for monitoring the work roll surface temperature by sensors embedded in the work roll. Continuous hot rolling pilot line trials were performed for different process conditions. One parameter, for example, roll cooling, rolling velocity, reduction, or skin cooling, can easily be changed during the trials, and the effect on the thermal cycle of the work roll can be directly measured. These thermal measurements give very detailed information about the temperature field. An inverse heat‐conduction model has been developed to compute the surface boundary condition from the measured temperatures. The heat flux and heat transfer coefficient distribution along the roll circumference can be obtained afterwards. The results for different rolling velocities and reductions (up to 50%) are shown.