Rolling process analysis of aluminum strip by a coupled thermo-elastic-plastic model

Abstract

The phenomenon of longitudinal curvature on an aluminum strip caused by different heat conduction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the strip while it undergoes a rolling process is studied. This research adopts large deformation-large strain theory to develop rolling process analysis of an aluminum strip by a coupled thentto-elastic-plastic model using the updated Lagrangian formulation (ULF) and incremental method. The flow stress of the materials is considered as a function of strain, strain rate and temperature, and the finite difference method is used simultaneously to solve equations of transient heat transfer. Finally, the numerical analysis method developed from this study is used to determine the temperature change and deformation of an aluminum strip when it undergoes hot rolling. At the same time, the simulation results on normal stress and contact angle are compared with the results of experiments and other published references; the comparison results verify that the present model is reasonable. In addition, the average rolling force during hot rolling is simulated and comparison is also made with the results of experiments provided by the China Steel Corporation. The simulated results in this article are generally considered to be reasonable.