Finish Rolling Research Articles

The effect of non-uniform skelp temperature on X70 steel coil cooling

This study explored the effect of varying steel skelp temperature (500 °C–600 °C) on the subsequent temperature-time ( T- t) profile during and after coiling of low C (0.05 wt. %) X70 microalloyed steels. Three industrially produced steel coils with similar rough rolling temperatures (∼1050 °C) and finish rolling temperatures (∼850 °C) but different coiling temperatures (500 °C–600 °C) and different skelp thicknesses (19 mm and 25 mm) were studied. The surface temperature of each coil was measured using an infrared video camera. A three-dimensional heat transfer model was developed to predict the T- t profiles. A lower (∼60 °C) initial skelp temperature near the head and tail of the skelp led to a reduced coil temperature. A higher (∼50 °C) temperature near the head and tail region of the skelp resulted in a more uniform coil temperature (a difference of ∼10 °C instead of ∼50 °C).

Gray relational analysis for parametric optimization of micro-EDM of thermo-mechanically processed AA7075 and AA7075/SiC/Gr composite

The AA7075 alloy and AA7075/SiC/Gr hybrid composite prepared by the stir-casting method have been further thermo-mechanically processed through unidirectional hot rolling and hot cross-rolling routes to eliminate casting defects like voids, blow holes etc. Three initial sample temperatures, that is, 350℃, 400℃, and 450℃, have been considered for the hot cross-rolling. The Al alloy and its hybrid composite prepared at different rolling temperatures are studied to investigate their micro-machining behavior through micro-electric discharge machining (µ-EDM). The micro-holes are made on the rolled samples along the rolling direction of the final rolling pass using a tool with twist drill bit geometry. Further, multi-objective optimization of the µ-EDM process parameters considering the response parameters viz. material removal rate (MRR) and tool wear rate (TWR) has been carried out using the gray relational analysis (GRA) technique. The µ-EDM parameters chosen to optimize in this study are voltage, pulse on time, and tool rotation. The obtained GRA results are further analyzed through normality and equal variance tests. The R-squared values of 95.02% and 95.53% for AA7075 alloy and hybrid composite, respectively, indicate that the data fit well with the statistical model. In material removal, the different electrical and thermal characteristics of the Al matrix and the reinforcements possibly generate sparks with a different characteristic that ultimately affects the MRR of the composite. Through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the morphological study confirmed the presence of globules and voids on the machined surface. The formation of globules and voids is more significant in the AA7075 alloy than in the composite.

RETRACTED: Shi et al. Effect of Final Rolling Temperature on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of AZ31 Alloy Sheets Prepared by Equal Channel Angular Rolling and Continuous Bending. Materials 2020, 13, 3346

The journal retracts the article, “Effect of Final Rolling Temperature on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of AZ31 Alloy Sheets Prepared by Equal Channel Angular Rolling and Continuous Bending” [...]

On the influence of austenite content in orientation selectivity and shear texture evolution during hot rolling of Fe-3 wt% Si grain-oriented electrical steel

A systematic investigation of the development of shear textures during hot rolling of Fe – 3 wt% Si steel has been carried out in the present work with a special focus on the influence of austenite in preferential orientation selectivity. This orientation selectivity was anticipated owing to the fact that texture evolution during thermomechanical processing is entirely an effect of crystallographic rotations and such rotations may experience constraining effects because of surrounding austenite. The influence of austenite on shear texture evolution was studied over a range of finish rolling temperatures (FRTs). The evolution of microstructure and microtexture within the surface-subsurface zone was studied adopting EBSD. Sharp Goss orientation was observed at lower FRT, while texture intensities of Brass and Copper were observed to be high at higher FRT. Additionally, it was inferred that in the surface-subsurface zone, next to the austenite, the ease of rotation about ND contributed to the higher observed frequency of the Brass orientation despite of its overall lesser fraction as compared to Copper orientation. The less observed frequency of Copper orientation near the austenite has been attributed to the resistance offered by the austenite to its adjacent ferrite grains while rotating about TD. This constraining effect of austenite has been shown to be consistent over the entire range of studied FRTs. Moreover, it has been shown that at higher rolling temperatures, the lower constraining effect by austenite paves the way for Goss orientation formation, which acts as the precursor to the formation of Brass at the FRT.

Research on the influence of finish rolling technique parameters on H2S corrosion resistance behavior of pipeline steel in the thickness direction

Abstract Natural gas was an important energy for human society’s development, and there was still a great demand for this type of energy. It required pipeline steel for energy transport and had excellent hydrogen-induced cracking resistance. Thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP) was a frequently used manufacturing method for pipeline steel. It was necessary to research the effect of finish rolling technique parameters on the H2S corrosion resistance behavior of pipeline steel in the thickness direction, especially concerning microstructure and hardness in the thickness direction. So, for the research, optical microscope (OM), hydrogen-induced cracking tests (HIC), and hardness tests were used to study the effect of finish rolling technique parameters on H2S corrosion resistance. As finish rolling deformation increases, deformation can effectively conduct from surface to center and reduce the average hardness gap between the surface and the center. It can also generate finer microstructure and smaller hardness differentials from the thickness direction. All these can enhance the hydrogen-induced cracking resistance.

Formation mechanism of edge crack during hot rolling process of high-grade non-oriented electrical steel

Edge crack formed during the hot rolling process significantly affected the quality of high-grade non-oriented electrical steel (NOES), posing substantial challenges to production. This study investigated the formation mechanism of serrated edge cracks in hot rolled strip, characterized by unusually coarse strip-like grains with typical thicknesses ranging from 0.5 to 0.8 mm and lengths ranging from 10 to 15 mm. These coarse strip-like grains evolved from abnormal columnar grains at the edges of reheating slab. During the continuous casting process, the bulge phenomenon occurred easily in high-grade NOES slabs, due to its lower yield strength at high temperatures. This bulge induced high internal stress at the slab edge, leading to abnormal growth of the columnar grains during the slab reheating process at high temperature. The orientation of coarse grains gradually changed to a rotated cube texture ({100}<011>) throughout the hot rolling process. These grains with rotated cube texture exhibited fewer slip systems and lower deformation storage energy, which is not conducive to the plastic deformation in thickness direction. Consequently, coarse grains at the slab edge deformed along TD direction and overflowed towards the lower surface of hot rolled strip, resulting in the original edge boundary enveloped by the overflowed metal to generate crack source. Finally, the serrated edge crack was formed from crack source under tensile stress during finish hot rolling.

Smith GA-PID feedback control of hot strip final rolling temperature

Abstract At present, the hot strip finishing temperature control system generally adopts a computer model or mechanism model to predict the strip’s final rolling temperature, which is open-loop control. To realize the precise control of the final rolling temperature of high-performance steel, this paper introduces the PID feedback control strategy at the end of the finishing zone, to realize the high-precision temperature control of the strip steel. The Smith compensator is used to predict the compensation for the large hysteresis problem of the final rolling temperature, and various intelligent algorithms are used to optimize the three parameters of the PID controller, eliminate the nonlinear problem, and obtain better dynamic performance. After the experiment, it is concluded that the Smith GA-PID optimization control strategy system has a small overshoot, the peak time and regulation time are the shortest, and the dynamic response is the fastest. Compared with the traditional PID control method, the overshoot is reduced by 97.6%, and the required regulation time is reduced by 7.85 s.

Transition from bouncing to rolling on a horizontal surface

If a ball is incident obliquely on a horizontal surface and is allowed to bounce more than once, then it is likely to bounce many times before it starts rolling along the surface. The number of bounces before rolling commences depends on the initial vertical speed and the normal coefficient of restitution. The transition from bouncing to rolling is examined using a simple theoretical model and is compared with experimental data obtained by filming the process with a video camera. We find that the final rolling speed is proportional to the initial horizontal speed of the ball and depends on the initial ball spin, but is independent of the tangential coefficient of restitution. Representative videos for different balls are included as supplementary material, including a superball thrown with a backspin that creates a back and forth motion. Instructors could use the experiment and/or analysis for an advanced undergraduate lab or use a simplified observational exercise for non-majors.

Effect of final rolling temperature on the microstructure and properties of high-manganese austenitic low-temperature steel

The effect of final rolling temperature ranging from 962 to 696 °C on as-rolled high-Mn austenitic low-temperature steel was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the experimental steel remained austenite without suffering ferrite phase transformation, even when produced with a final rolling temperature as low as 696 °C. A decrease in the final rolling temperature of the steel was accompanied by a decrease in grain size from 20.2 to 6.0 μm, accompanied by an increase in dislocation density from 3.01 × 1014 to 10.9 × 1014 m−2. In addition, M23C6 carbides precipitated at the grain boundaries when the final rolling temperature was below 782 °C. Grain refinement and increased dislocation density significantly enhanced the strength of the material. However, an increase in the intragranular dislocation density compromised grain deformation ability. Moreover, the precipitation of M23C6 reduced the plasticity and toughness of the material. Considering the balance between yield strength and low-temperature toughness, the optimal final rolling temperature was 898 °C; this produced a material with a yield strength of approximately 507 MPa and a low-temperature impact energy absorption of approximately 143 J.

Evolution of microstructure, texture and formability of Al–Mg–Si alloys at different hot rolling finish temperatures

The impact of hot rolling finish temperature (HRFT) on the evolution of microstructure, texture, as well as formability—including deep drawability and bendability—of Al–Mg–Si alloy was studied in present work. The obtained results reveal that HRFT has a notable influence on the dynamic softening and dynamic precipitation behaviors during the hot rolling process of the investigated alloy. This leads to the volume fraction and number density of micro-sized Mg2Si particles increase as the increase of HRFT, those of nano-sized particles decrease, and the dislocation density decrease, in the hot-rolled sheets. These microstructural variations persist in the cold-rolled sheets, subsequently affecting the ultimate microstructure, texture, as well as formability of T4P sheets. The deep drawability improves as the HRFT rises, as indicated by the increase in normal anisotropy (r‾) and decrease in planar anisotropy (Δr). This is attributed to the weakening of texture intensity. The bendability, quantified by the minimum hemming factor (Rmin/t), deteriorates as the HRFT rises from 260 °C to 390 °C, attributed to the strengthening of P component along with the weakening of Cube component. Conversely, with the HRFT rises from 390 °C to 420 °C, the bendability improves dramatically due to the significant reduction in the average grain size. A combination of excellent deep drawability and bendability could be obtained by elevating the HRFT to 420 °C, attributed to the combined effect of weakened texture intensity and fine grains.

Investigation of effects of aluminum additions on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of ultra-high strength and vanadium bearing dual-phase steels

The effects of aluminum (Al) additions (0.04, 0.4, and 0.8 wt%) on the microstructural evolution, tensile properties, and sheared-edge ductility of dual phase (DP) steels were investigated. The DP steels were processed with distinct coiling temperatures after finish rolling, cold rolled, and subjected to two continuous galvanizing line (CGL) simulations: standard galvanizing (GI) and supercooling process (SC). Al expanded both the ɑ-ferrite and (ɑ+γ) phase fields at the expense of the γ-austenite region. Continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagrams showed that Al increased ferrite start temperatures, broadened the ferrite transformation zone, and reduced austenite stability. Austenite growth kinetics during intercritical annealing, quantified using a modified Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) model, revealed Avrami exponents ranging from 0.72 to 0.81 and apparent activation energies increasing from 422.9 to 496.7 kJ mol−1 with Al additions. Microstructural characterization revealed larger ferrite grain sizes and higher ferrite volume fractions with higher Al levels. Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was influenced by Al contents, coiling temperatures, and CGL simulation methods. Global ductility (total elongation, TE) was highest for the 0.8Al Steel with a high coiling temperature and GI annealing, while local ductility (hole expansion ratio, HER) was maximized for the 0.04 Al Steel with a low coiling temperature and SC annealing. The majority of the CGL simulated DP steels exhibited good strength-ductility combinations, with the 0.8Al Steels demonstrating superior properties compared to current automotive advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) grades.

A new method of rolling finishing forming process of spiral bevel gears investigated by numerical simulation and experiment

A new method of rolling finishing forming process of spiral bevel gears investigated by numerical simulation and experiment

Microstructural evolution and carbides precipitation behavior and their effects on mechanical property of Nb–Ti microalloyed FB590 steel

Ferrite-bainite dual phase steels have been widely used in automobile manufacturing industry due to their high strength and excellent hole expansion performance. In this study, the effects of coiling temperature on mechanical properties and hole expansion performance of low carbon Nb–Ti micro-alloyed FB590 ferrite-bainite steel have been studied. Additionally, the microstructure evolution and carbide precipitation behavior during hot rolling and coiling processes have been investigated. The influence mechanism of microstructures and carbides on both mechanical properties and hole expansion performance has also been discussed. The results suggest that the fraction of the retained austenite and the martensite decreases gradually with increasing coiling temperatures from 450 °C to 500 °C. The main reason for the formation of martensite and retained austenite in steel CT450 coiled at 450 °C is that the coiling temperature is near the martensitic transformation temperature Ms. Increasing the coiling temperature to 500 °C which is above the Ms leads to ferritic and bainitic structure. The carbides precipitation behavior has been studied by TEM, thermodynamic and kinetics calculation. The results show that the size of the carbides increases with increasing coiling temperatures from 450 °C to 500 °C. Most of the large size carbides above 100 nm with high percent of Ti are the undissolved particles in austenite during slab heating. The medium size particles between 50 nm and 100 nm and enriched in Ti precipitate during rough rolling at higher temperature, while the particles smaller than 50 nm enriched in Nb precipitate during finish rolling and coiling processes. The strength of the steel is effectively increased by the fine carbides and martensite formed at low coiling temperature of 450 °C. With increasing coiling temperature from 450 °C to 500 °C, the steel's strength decreases from 630 MPa to 591 MPa, while the HER are improved from 76.8 % to 119.9 % due to the reduction of martensite and retained austenite. Although the strength is a little reduced due to the coarsening of carbides and reducing of the martensite, the plasticity and hole expansion performance is improved significantly with the coiling temperature of 500 °C.

Research on the strengthening mechanism of Nb–Ti microalloyed ultra low carbon IF steel

Interstitial free (IF) steels are characterized by their interstitial free ferritic matrix due to addition of micro-alloying elements that draw carbon and nitrogen out of matrix to form carbonitrides. The IF steels typically have excellent deep drawing ability, certain mechanical strength, and high plastic deformation performance. In this paper, the microstructure evolution and carbides precipitation behavior during the hot rolling, cold rolling and annealing processes have been studied using both experimental and thermodynamic and kinetic modeling approaches. The strengthening mechanism of Nb–Ti microalloyed IF steel has been investigated. The results of the thermodynamic simulation indicates that the addition of Nb into Ti bearing IF steel promotes recrystallization at 900 °C, leading to fine recrystallized grains. Due to the recrystallization of austenite during the final rolling process, Nb–Ti microalloyed hot rolled plates exhibit finer grain size, fewer substructures, and lower dislocation density compared to the hot rolled plates containing only Ti. Building upon the initial fine and uniform structure, Nb–Ti microalloyed steel maintains a refined structure after undergoing cold rolling and annealing. The study of the carbides precipitation behavior suggests that TiN precipitates at high temperature above 1100 °C, while a substantial amount of (Nb,Ti)C and TiC precipitate at about 900 °C in Nb–Ti and Ti bearing steels, respectively. There is no significantly difference between the amount of carbides in steels hot deformed at 900 °C and in the hot rolled plates, indicating that the carbides mainly precipitate during the hot rolling process. There are negligible carbides precipitated during the coiling process at 600 °C. In Nb–Ti containing steel, Nb and Ti in solid solution are significantly reduced due to the large amount precipitation of (Nb,Ti)C during the final rolling process. The reduction of solid solution Nb effectively promotes the recrystallization of austenite. Therefore, the grains of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and annealed strips are refined. In addition, there are more small size carbides in Nb–Ti bearing steel than that in Ti bearing steel. Therefore, the higher strength of Nb–Ti steel is mainly from the strengthening effect of grain refinement and carbides precipitation.

Effect of final rolling temperature on microstructure and intergranular corrosion resistance of an Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy

Connection of microstructure with corrosion properties of an Al-3.62Cu-0.9Mg-0.45Ag alloy in natural aging (NA) state and peak aging (PA) state at different final rolling temperatures (20 °C, 180 °C and 280 °C) are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), texture and electrochemical analysis. The results show that the deformation texture and recrystallization texture of T280-NA alloy account for the largest percentage with the largest degree of recrystallization. With the increase of final rolling temperature, the proportion of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) of NA alloy increases, the diameter, thickness and volume fraction of Ω phase in PA alloy decrease, and the grain boundary precipitates (GBPs) are gradually transformed from discontinuous distribution to continuous distribution. The grain boundary precipitates are also found to be consist of alternating S and θ phases and the width of precipitation free zones (PFZs) is essentially independent of final rolling temperature. The intergranular corrosion (IGC) resistance of T280-NA alloy and T20-PA alloy is the best, which is a result of the combined effect of GBPs, texture and grain boundary properties. In addition, this result is verified in this paper by studying the electrochemical properties of the alloy.

Effect of final rolling deformation on microstructure, work hardening and softening behavior of Mg-8Li-3Al-0.3Si alloys

The Al-27Si alloy was prepared using spray deposition and subsequently incorporated into Mg-Li alloy by vacuum melting furnace to produce a novel Mg-8Li-3Al-0.3Si (LA83–0.3Si) duplex alloy. The effect of final rolling deformation (30%, 40%, 50% and 60%) on the microstructure, mechanical properties, work hardening, and softening behavior was researched. Results indicated that the LA83–0.3Si alloy mainly comprised of α-Mg, β-Li, AlLi, and Mg2Si phases. The rolling deformation process induced elongation of the α-Mg and β-Li phase along rolling direction, facilitating the formation of α/β laminar structure, notably enhancing the strength and ductility. Increased final rolling deformation further prompted the formation of the α/β laminar structure and refined the precipitates. Consequently, the LA83–0.3Si alloy's strength progressively increased while elongation slightly diminished. At 60% deformation, the ultimate tensile strength of the LA83–0.3Si alloy reached 331 MPa, with the elongation sustained to 10.9%. The rolling process led to a reduction in the work hardening rate and an increase in the softening rate. With the increase of the final rolling deformation, the work hardening rate decreases and the softening rate further increases. However, the work hardening rate increases, and the softening rate decreases due to the decreasing of the hardness ratio of α-Mg and β-Li phases at 60% deformation.

Tailoring the formability and planar anisotropy of Al-Mg-Si-Cu-Zn alloys via cross hot rolling and two-stage cold rolling

Al-Mg-Si-(Cu) alloys have shown great potential in responding to the growing demand for automotive lightweight, but the limited formability and high planar anisotropy have always hindered their application. The present study designs a novel method for simultaneously improving the formability and planar anisotropy of Al-Mg-Si-Cu-Zn alloys by coupling cross hot rolling and two-stage cold rolling. The results have shown that the multi-scale distribution of secondary particles and strong Brass{011}<112> and S{123}<634> texture are induced by the designed cross hot rolling process, which weakens the recrystallization texture after solution treatment, especially Cube{001}<100> orientation. Meanwhile, the designed two-stage cold rolling process (intermediate cold rolling process with high reduction + final cold rolling process with low reduction) promotes the precipitation of unstable precipitates (Mg2Si and Q phase), and inhibits the formation of Copper{112}<111> orientation, which further weakens the recrystallization texture and results in the dispersion distribution of recrystallization texture. Accordingly, the formability and planar anisotropy of the Al-Mg-Si-Cu-Zn alloy are simultaneously improved without strength loss by coupling the designed cross hot rolling with two-stage cold rolling, and the influence mechanism of texture on r value has been analyzed by Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) model.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Low-Alloy Hot-Rolled Strip Cooling Process Based on Gray Correlation Analysis

The residual stress in low-alloy hot-rolled strips seriously affects the use and processing of products. Reducing residual stress is important for improving the product quality of hot-rolled strips. In this paper, the changes in grain size and residual stress of hot-rolled strips under different cooling processes were investigated via thermal simulation experiments and electron backscatter diffraction. It was found that the optimum cooling process solution for single-objective optimization of grain size was a final rolling temperature of 875 °C, a laminar cooling speed of 50 °C/s, and a coiling temperature of 550 °C. When single-objective optimization of residual stress was carried out, the optimal cooling process scheme was 900 °C for final rolling temperature, 20 °C/s for laminar cooling speed, and 625 °C for coiling temperature. The significance of the effect of cooling processes on grain size and residual stress was analyzed based on the extreme deviation of the effect of each cooling process on grain size and residual stress in orthogonal experiments. The results show that the coiling temperature was the most influential factor on grain size and residual stress among the cooling process parameters. The difference was that grain size increased with increasing coiling temperature, and residual stress decreased with increasing coiling temperature. Using both grain size and residual stress as evaluation indicators, a multi-objective optimization of the cooling process for hot-rolled strips was carried out via the gray correlation analysis method. The optimized solution was 875 °C final rolling temperature, 30 °C/s laminar cooling speed, and 625 °C coiling temperature. At this time, the grain size was 4.8 μm, and the KAM (Kernel Average Misorientation) was 0.40°. The grain size under the actual production process scheme was 4.4 μm with a KAM of 0.78°. Compared to the actual production process solution, the multi-objective optimization solution showed little change in grain size, with only a 9% increase and a 49% reduction in KAM. The optimization scheme in this paper could significantly reduce the level of residual stresses while ensuring the fine grain size of hot-rolled strips, thus improving the overall quality of hot-rolled strips.

Study on an Approximate Model for Predicting the Roll Force of an H-Beam Flange During Universal Finishing Rolling

Study on an Approximate Model for Predicting the Roll Force of an H-Beam Flange During Universal Finishing Rolling

Strengthening mechanism and precipitation behavior of advanced ultrahigh-strength titanium microalloy weathering steels for photovoltaic support

This study developed an 800 MPa grade ultrahigh-strength titanium microalloy weathering steel for photovoltaic support with yield and tensile strengths of 869 MPa and 956 MPa, respectively, and elongation above 12%. A comprehensive analysis was conducted to reveal the strengthening mechanisms and precipitation behavior of ultrahigh-strength weathering steel. The results illuminated that grain refinement, dislocation, and precipitation strengthening contribute 70.7% of total yield strength, the main strengthening mechanism of the ultrahigh-strength weathering steel. Notably, the average size of the elliptical TiC particles was 6.9 nm, and a long-to-short axis ratio of TiC particles ranging from 1.62 to 2.03 aligned with the theoretical shape factor of 2.16. The thermodynamic calculations agree with the experimental results, and the precipitated phase can be regarded as TiC. The precipitation kinetics indicated that optimal finishing rolling and coiling temperatures (CT) are critical for obtaining many nano-sized TiC precipitates. Compared to the CT of 630 °C, 570 °C retains more dislocations, promotes the nucleation site of TiC precipitates, and slows the post-nucleation coarsening, which is the main reason for the higher precipitation and dislocation strengthening than 630 °C. The first observation of multi-atomic layer GP clusters near precipitated phases within the ultrahigh-strength titanium microalloy weathering steel was noteworthy. The GP clusters, acting as intermediate precipitates containing Ti precipitates, keep a co-lattice relationship with the iron matrix by the dislocations around the GP clusters adjusting the mismatch. The contribution of the interaction of GP clusters and dislocations to the yield strength was estimated to be ∼53 MPa.