Self-Learning and Its Application to Laminar Cooling Model of Hot Rolled Strip

The mathematical model for online controlling hot rolled steel cooling on run-out table （ROT for abbreviation） was analyzed, and water cooling is found to be the main cooling mode for hot rolled steel. The calculation of the drop in strip temperature by both water cooling and air cooling is summed up to obtain the change of heat transfer coefficient. It is found that the learning coefficient of heat transfer coefficient is the kernel coefficient of coiler temperature control （CTC） model tuning. To decrease the deviation between the calculated steel temperature and the measured one at coiler entrance, a laminar cooling control self-learning strategy is used. Using the data acquired in the field, the results of the self-learning model used in the field were analyzed. The analyzed results show that the self-learning function is effective.

Stream Surface Strip Element Method and Simulation of Three-Dimensional Deformation of Continuous Hot Rolled Strip

A new method,the stream surface strip element method,for simulating the three-dimensional deformation of plate and strip rolling process was proposed.The rolling deformation zone was divided into a number of stream surface(curved surface)strip elements along metal flow traces,and the stream surface strip elements were mapped into the corresponding plane strip elements for analysis and computation.The longitudinal distributions of the lateral displacement and the altitudinal displacement of metal were respectively constructed to be a quartic curve and a quadratic curve,of which the lateral distributions were expressed as the third-power spline function,and the altitudinal distributions were fitted in the quadratic curve.From the flow theory of plastic mechanics,the mathematical models of the three-dimensional deformations and stresses of the deformation zone were constructed.Compared with the streamline strip element method proposed by the first author of this paper,the stream surface strip element method takes into account the uneven distributions of stresses and deformations along altitudinal direction,and realizes the precise three-dimensional analysis and computation.The simulation example of continuous hot rolled strip indicates that the method and the model accord with facts and provide a new reliable engineering-computation method for the three-dimensional mechanics simulation of plate and strip rolling process.

“Quartus scale” of hot-rolled strip steels and its formation mechanism

The types and growth of various oxide scales formed during the different phases of the production of hotrolled strip steel products are reviewed. Similarities and differences between the ＂tertiary scale＂ on the surface of carbon steels at high temperatures and the oxide scale on pure iron are compared. The micro-structural features of the ＂final oxide scale＂ on the surface of strip steels at room temperature as well as the relationship between these features and the position of the steel coil （plate） and the subsequent processes of recoiling, temper rolling and trimming, etc. are summarized. The actual oxide scales retained on the commercial hot-rolled strip steels at room temperature have been proposed to define as ＂ quartus scale＂ for the first time. The micro-structural development and phase transformation of the initial ＂tertiary scale＂ during and after cooling and coiling are described. The reasons for the ＂tertiary scale＂ on carbon steels differing from the oxide scale formed on pure iron, and the major influencing factors in the formation of various types of ＂quartus scales＂ are analyzed from both thermodynamic and dynamic viewpoints. The development mechanism of ＂ quartus scales＂ is discussed and the potential effects of the ＂ quartus scale＂ state （thickness, constitution, structure and defects）, on the rusting and pickling properties of commercial hot-rolled strip steel, as well as on the mechanical properties of oxide scales are analyzed.

Research on Single-Side Long Edge of Hot Rolled Strip Caused by Asymmetrical Stiffness of Mill Stand

To analyze and solve the problem of single-side long edge of hot rolled strip in certain domestic factory, the asymmetrical deformation of rolls and strip in asymmetrical stiffness mill stand based on slit beam model, the strip profile and rolling force distribution at the exit of asymmetric stiffness stand mill were calculated using influence function method. Considering the character of in-site equipment and technology, a scheme of adjusting load distribution in finishing mill was made and the experiment was applied. Comparison of strip profile between new load distribution and the old one shows that the method can solve single-side long edge problem well.

Influence of oxide scales on the corrosion behaviors of B510L hot-rolled steel strips

The influence of oxide scales on the corrosion behaviors of B510 L hot-rolled steel strips was investigated in this study. Focused ion beams and scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the morphologies of oxide scales on the surface and cross sections of the hot-rolled steel. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used for the phase analysis of the oxide scales and corrosion products. The corrosion potential and impedance were measured by anodic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. According to the results, oxide scales on the hot-rolled strips mainly comprise iron and iron oxides. The correlation between mass gain and test time follows a power exponential rule in the damp-heat test. The corrosion products are found to be mainly composed of γ-Fe OOH, Fe3O4, ？-Fe OOH, and γ-Fe2O3. The contents of the corrosion products are different on the surfaces of the steels with and without oxide scales. The steel with oxide scales is found to show a higher corrosion resistance and lower corrosion rate.

Hot-rolled strips of up to 19 mm in thickness and their processing to helically welded large diameter pipes of grade X80

Hot-rolled wide strip for production of large diameter,heavy gauged(up to 19 mm) helical line pipe grade X80 was a priority development over the last three years.Microstructure,texture and mechanical properties of strips have been characterised.Also the welding conditions have been simulated.The favourable microstructure is achieved by the proper selection of an appropriate chemical composition of low carbon content and increased niobium micro alloying in combination with suitable strictly controlled hot-rolling parameters.The addition of niobium in combination with the adjustment of other alloying elements increases the recrystallisation stop temperature and thus makes it possible to apply a high temperature processing(HTP) concept.The homogeneous bainitic microstructure across the strip gauge is then formed during accelerated cooling on the run-out table of the hot-rolling mill.All results indicated excellent properties of these hot strips which make it suitable for spiral pipes of grade X80 for example 18.9mm×Φ1 220 mm at dimension.

Mill scale structure and damp heat corrosion performance of four 510L hot-rolled strips

In this study, the matrix structure, state and composition of the mill scales of four typical domestically made 510L hot-rolled strips were observed and analyzed by means of optical microscopy （OM） ,scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The corrosion behavior of the steels with and without mill scales were investigated by means of hot-humid corrosion tests under the condition of relative humidity （ RH ） of 95% at 50℃ and 70℃, respectively. The results show that the matrix structures, state, composition and thickness of mill scales vary in the strips. The rusting starting time of the specimens with scales is generally a bit longer than that of the specimens without scales, but their corrosion mass-gain is higher. For these two kinds of specimens ,their corrosion rate increases significantly with the increase of temperature. The rusting behavior of the 510L strips produced by various plants is different due to the variations of hot-rolling processes and designed chemical compositions. Various relevant aspects should be taken into account in the evaluation of the corrosion behavior of hot-rolled strips.

Numerical Simulation of Temperature Field and Thermal Stress Field of Work Roll During Hot Strip Rolling

Based on the thermal conduction equations, the three-dimensional （3D） temperature field of a work roll was investigated using finite element method （FEM）. The variations in the surface temperature of the work roll during hot strip rolling were described, and the thermal stress field of the work roll was also analyzed. The results showed that the highest roll surface temperature is 593 ℃, and the difference between the minimum and maximum values of thermal stress of the work roll surface is 145.7 MPa. Furthermore, the results of this analysis indicate that temperature and thermal stress are useful parameters for the investigation of roll thermal fatigue and also for improving the quality of strip during rolling.

Application of multi-scale feature extraction to surface defect classification of hot-rolled steels

Feature extraction is essential to the classification of surface defect images. The defects of hot-rolled steels distribute in different directions. Therefore, the methods of multi-scale geometric analysis （MGA） were employed to decompose the image into several directional subba^ds at several scales. Then, the statistical features of each subband were calculated to produce a high-dimensional feature vector, which was reduced to a lower-dimensional vector by graph embedding algorithms. Finally, support vector machine （SVM） was used for defect classification. The multi-scale feature extraction method was implemented via curvelet transform and kernel locality preserving projections （KLPP）. Experiment results show that the proposed method is effective for classifying the surface defects of hot-rolled steels and the total classification rate is up to 97.33%.

Comprehensive contour prediction model of work rolls in hot wide strip mill

The predictive calculation of comprehensive contour of work rolls in the on-line strip shape control model during hot rolling consists of two important parts of wear contour calculation and thermal contour calculation, which have a direct influence on the ac- curacy of shape control. A statistical wear model and a finite difference thermal contour model of work rolls were described. The comprehensive contour is the equivalence treatment of the sum of grinding, wear, and thermal contours. This comprehensive contour calculation model has been applied successfully in the real on-line strip shape control model. Its high precision has been proved through the large amounts of actual roll profile measurements and theoretical analyses. The hit rates （percent of shape index satisfying re- quirement） of crown and head flatness of the strips rolled, by using the shape control model, which includes the comprehensive contour calculation model, have about 16% and 10% increase respectively, compared to those of strips rolled by using manual operation.

Three-Di mensional Model for Strip Hot Rolling

A three-dimensional model for strip hot rolling was developed, in which the plastic deformation of strip, the thermal crown of rolls, roll deflection and flattening were calculated by rigid-plastic finite element method, finite difference method, influential function method and elastic finite element method respectively. The roll wear was taken into consideration. The model can provide detailed information such as rolling pressure distribution, contact pressure distribution between backup rolls and work rolls, deflection and flattening of work rolls, lateral distribution of strip thickness, and lateral distribution of front and back tensions. The finish rolling on a 1 450 mm hot strip mill was simulated.

THE MICROSTRUCTURAL BANDING IN THE CENTER OF HOT ROLLLNG STRIP

The microstructural banding in steels is often found in hot rolling strips, which plays a very important role in mechanical properties. Much work has been done to investigate how the microstructural banding is formed during hot rolling. In the present study, the microstructure of hot rolling strips was examined in term of optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Electron probe microanalysis was also used to decide the distribution of microchemical bands, by this means, the phases in these strips were found to be ferrite and pearlite. The average distance between the carbon lamellas in pearlite is about 0.06-0.1μm. It is also shown that microstructural banding in hot rolled carbon steel was closely related to the segregation of manganese and silicon into those bands. Based on the transformation kinetic, the simulated results pointed out that the thermodynamic stability of austenite would increase with the increasing of Mn, which led to a decrease of ferrite growth rate. The effect of Mn on the decomposition of austenite is attributed to segregation of Mn atoms along the ferrite/austenite phase boundary which causes a strong solute drag effect. The addition of Mn to steel decreases the activity of austenite, thereby it is beneficial to the formation of non-equilibrium phase, such as degenerate pearlite. The formation of banded structure on the hot rolled process was discussed.

Analysis of the thermal profile of work rolls in the hot strip rolling process

A 2-dimension axisymmetric model was developed by the finite-differencemethod, which can be used to predict the transient temperature field and thermal profile of workrolls in the hot strip rolling process. To demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the solutiondeveloped, the calculation results were compared with the production data of a 1700 mm hot striprolling mill and good agreement was found between them. The effect of strip width and roll shiftingon the thermal expansion of the work rolls was studied. It is found that the strip width has markedeffect on the efficient thermal crown. Initially, when the rolling strip changes from narrow towide, a bigger efficient thermal crown can be quickly achieved; afterwards, when the rolling stripchanges from wide to narrow, not only the influence of uneven wear can be reduced but also theexcessive efficient thermal crown can be avoided. It is also found that the work roll shifting has adeterminate but not obvious effect on the reduction of the efficient thermal crown, and will makethe strip shape unstable without being used properly.

Prediction of Rolling Load in Hot Strip Mill byInnovations Feedback Neural Networks

Because the structure of the classical mathematical model of rolling load is simple, even with the self-adapting technology, it is difficult to accommodate the increasing dimensional accuracy. Motivated by this fact, an Innovations Feedback Neural Networks （IFNN） was presented based on the idea of Kalman prediction. The neural networks used the Back Propagation （BP） algorithm and applied it to the prediction of rolling load in hot strip mill. The theoretical results and the off-line simulation show that the prediction capability of IFNN is better than that of normal BP networks, namely, for the prediction of the rolling load in hot strip mill, the prediction precision of IFNN is higher than that of normal BP networks. Finally, a relative complete rolling load prediction system was developed on Windows 2003/XP platform using the OOP programming method and the SQL server2000 database. With this sys- tem, the rolling load of a 1700 strip mill was calculated, and the prediction results obtained correspond well with the field data. It shows that IFNN is valid for rolling load prediction.

Adaptive threading strategy based on rolling characteristics analysis in hot strip rolling

In order to improve the threading stability and the head thickness precision in tandem hot rolling process, an adaptive threading strategy was proposed. The proposed strategy was realized by the rolling characteristics analysis, and factors which affect the rolling force and the final thickness were determined and analyzed based on the influence coefficients calculation process. An objective function consisting of the influenced factors was founded, and the disturbance quantity was obtained by minimizing the function with the Nelder-Mead simplex method, and the proposed adaptive threading strategy was realized based on the calculation results. The adaptive threading strategy has been applied to one 7-stand hot tandem mill successfully, actual statistics data show that the predicted rolling force prediction in the range of +/- 5.0% is improved to 97.8%, the head thickness precision in the range of +/- 35 mu m is improved to 98.5%, and the threading stability and the head thickness precision are enhanced to a high level.

Control and application of cooling path after rolling for hot strip based on ultra fast cooling

Hot rolled strip requires diverse and flexible control of cooling path in order to take full advantages of strengthening mechanisms such as fine grain strengthening, precipitation strengthening, and transformation strengthening, adapting to the development of advanced steel materials and the requirement of reduction-manufacturing. Ultra fast cooling can achieve a great range of cooling rate, which provides the means that the hardened austenite obtained in high temperature region can keep at different dynamic transformation temperatures. Meanwhile, through the rational allocation of the UFC （ultra fast cooling） and LFC （laminar flow cooling）, more flexible cooling path control and cooling strategy of hot rolled strip are obtained. Temperature distribution and control strategies under different cooling paths based on UFC are investigated. The process control temperature can be limited within 18 ℃, and the mechanical properties of the steels get a great leap forward due to the cooling paths and strategies, which can decrease costs and create great economic benefits for the iron and steel enterprises.

Complete Mill Simulation of the Rolling Process of 1660 mm Hot Strip Continuous Mills

The three-dimensional plastic deformations of strip are analyzed using the stream surface strip element method, the elastic deformations of rolls are analyzed using the influence coefficient method, the analyzing and computing model of shape and crown of 4-high mill was established by combining them, and the rolling process of 1660 mm hot strip continuous mills was simulated. The simulated results tally well with the experimental results. The modei and the method for simulation of shape analysis and control of hot strip mills were provided.

Off-line Simulation of PFC for Hot Rolling Strip

In order to improve the quality of the strip for the hot continuous rolling, the high accuracy set-up control must be applied to production. In the paper, we analyze the RFC (profile and flatness control) system and simulate the set-up process. Calculation results are in agreement to the actual measurements. It is the basis on the developing model.

Effect of Load Distribution on Strip Crown in Hot Strip Rolling

In order to establish precision model, a software to calculate the strip crown of four-high hot rolling mill was developedby using affecting function method according to the strip crown calculation theory. The effect of work roll diameter,unit width rolling load, roll bending force, work roll crown, initial strip crown and reduction, etc, on load distributioneffect rate was simulated by using the software. The results show that the load distribution effect rate increaseswith the increase of strip width, work roll diameter, unit width rolling load, roll bending force, work roll crown,initial strip crown and reduction. Based on the simulation results, base value of load distribution effect rate andfitting coefficients of six power polynomial of load distribution effect rate modification coefficient were determinedconsidering all of the above parameters. A simplified mathematical model for calculating load distribution effect ratewas established.

Prediction of Rolling Load, Recrystallization Kinetics, and Microstructure During Hot Strip Rolling

The recrystallization kinetics and grain size models were developed for the C Mn and niobium containing steels to describe the metallurgical phenomenon such as softening, grain growth, and strain accumulation. Based on the recrystallization kinetics equations, the mean flow stress and the rolling load of each pass were predicted and the optimum rolling schedule was proposed for hot strip rolling. The austenite grain refinement is associated with the addition of niobium, the decrease of starting temperature of finish rolling, and the reduction of finished thickness. The mean flow stress curve with a continuous rising characteristic can be usually observed in the finish rolling of niobium containing steel, which is formed as a result of the heavy incomplete softening and strain accumulation. The predic ted rolling loads are in good agreement with the measured ones.