Research and Development Trend of Shape Control for Cold Rolling Strip

Shape is an important quality index of cold rolling strip. Up to now, many problems in the shape control domain have not been solved satisfactorily, and a review on the research progress in the shape control domain can help to seek new breakthrough directions. In the past 10 years, researches and applications of shape control models, shape control means, shape detection technology, and shape con- trol system have achieved significant progress. In the aspect of shape control models, the researches in the past improve the accuracy, speed and robustness of the models. The intelligentization of shape control models should be strengthened in the future. In the aspect of the shape control means, the researches in the past focus on the roll opti- mization, mill type selection, process optimization, local strip shape control, edge drop control, and so on. In the future, more attention should be paid to the coordination control of both strip shape and other quality indexes, and the refinement of control objective should be strengthened. In the aspects of shape detection technology and shape control system, some new types of shape detection meters and shape control systems are developed and have successfully indus- trial applications. In the future, the standardization of shape detection technology and shape control system should be promoted to solve the problem of compatibility. In general,the four expected development trends of shape control for cold roiling strip in the future are intelligentization, coordi- nation, refinement, and standardization. The proposed research provides new breakthrough directions for improv- ing shape quality.

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.

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.

Numerical simulation of the temperature fields of stainless steel with different roller parameters during twin-roll strip casting

The temperature field of stainless steel during twin-roll strip casting was simulated by experiment and a finite element （FE） model. By comparing the measured result with the simulated values, it is found that they fit close to each other, which indicates this FE model is effective. Based on this model, the effects of roll gap （t） and roll radius （R） on solidification were simulated. The simulated results give the relationship between t or R and the position of the freezing point. The larger the t is and the smaller the R is, the closer the position of the freezing point is to the exit.

EVALUATION OF LUBRICANTS FOR COLD ROLLING ALUMINUM STRIPS

Various kinds of base oils were applied to cold rolling aluminum strips on a test mill for evaluationof the influences of these base oils,aromatics contents and viscosity of base oils on their lubricating performances and surface reflectivity of rolled strips at annealing. Results showed that low friction coefficient androlling force were obtained by using the normal paraffins,whereas their contaminations on the annealed stripsurface were the same as those of other saturated hydrocarbons. Aromatics in base oil affected the stir face reflectivity of annealed strips, but the decrease of aromatics in base oil was ineffective to improve rolled stripssurface quality when it is less than 1 %. Base oil viscosity has the great influences on the lubricating performances and surface reflectivity of annealed strips just in this condition.

Coupled Dynamic Modeling of Rolls Model and Metal Model for Four High Mill Based on Strip Crown Control

The crown is a key quality index of strip and plate, the rolling mill system is a complex nonlinear system, the strip qualities are directly affected by the dynamic characteristics of the rolling mil. At present, the studies about the dynamic modeling of the rolling mill system mainly focus on the dynamic simulation for the strip thickness control system, the dynamic characteristics of the strip along the width direction and that of the rolls along axial direction are not considered. In order to study the dynamic changes of strip crown in the roiling process, the dynamic simulation model based on strip crown control is established. The work roll and backup roll are considered as elastic continuous bodies and the work roll and backup roll are joined by a Winkler elastic layer. The rolls are considered as double freely supported beams. The change rate of roll gap is taken into consideration in the metal deformation, based on the principle of dynamic conservation of material flow, the two dimensional dynamic model of metal is established. The model of metal deformation provides exciting force for the rolls dynamic model, and the roils dynamic model and metal deformation model couple together. Then, based on the two models, the dynamic model of rolling mill system based on strip crown control is established. The Newmark-13 method is used to solve the problem, and the dynamic changes of these parameters are obtained as follows： （1） The bending of work roll and backup roll changes with time; （2） The strip crown changes with time; （3） The distribution of rolling force changes with time. Take some cold tandem rolling mill as subject investigated, simulation results and the comparisons with experimental results show that the dynamic model built is rational and correct. The proposed research provides effective theory for optimization of device and technological parameters and development of new technology, plays an important role to improve the strip control precision and strip shape quality.

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.

FEM Analysis of Rolling Pressure Along Strip Width in Cold Rolling Process

Using 3-D elastic-plastic FEM, the cold strip rolling process in a 4-high mill was simulated. The elastic deformation of rolls, the plastic deformation of the strip, and the pressure between the work roll and the backup roll were taken into account. The distribution of rolling pressure along the strip width was obtained. Based on the simulation results, the peak value of rolling pressure and the location of the peak were analyzed under different rolling conditions. The effects of the roll bending force and the strip width on the distribution of rolling pressure along the width direction were determined.

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.

Elastoplastic 3D Deformation and Stress Analysis of Strip Rolling

An elastoplastic method for analyzing the 3D deformation, stress and transverse distribution of tension stress during cold strip rolling is developed. The analysis is based on the elastoplastic variational principle in which a kinematically admissible velocity field is constructed with the lateral flow function as an unknown function. The stress distribution and volume strain distribution are obtained by solving the simultaneous equations formed by the longitudinal differential equation of equilibrium and constitutive equations. The lateral flow function is determined by minimizing the total energy dissipation rate. Experimental investigation was carried out on a reversible cold mill. The front tension stress distributions in cold rolled strips were measured by a multi roll segmented tension sensing shapemeter. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured ones.

Lubrication in strip cold rolling process

A lubrication model was developed for explaining how to form an oil film inthe deformation zone, predicting the film thickness and determining the characteristics oflubrication in the strip rolling process, combined with the knowledge of hydrodynamic lubricationand rolling theories. Various mineral oils with viscosities from 0.032 to 1.6 Pa-s were used toobtain different film thicknesses in the strip cold rolling. Results from the experiment andcalculation show that the oil film forming in hydrodynamic lubrication is up to the bit angle and ahigher rolling speed or a higher rolling oil viscosity. The mechanism of mechanical entrainmentalways affects the film thickness that increases with the rolling oil viscosity increasing or thereduction rate decreasing in rolling.

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.

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 μm is improved to 98.5%,and the threading stability and the head thickness precision are enhanced to a high level.

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.

Transverse Distributions of Front and Back Tension Stresses in Cold Strip Rolling

In this paper,such a new lateral displacement function is proposed that the lateral flow velocity is con- tinuous at the entry and the exit of deformation zone.A new kind of finite strip method—the third power B-spline finite strip method—is put forward to simulate strip rolling process.Front and back tension stresses are formulated.The computed results of the transverse distributions of the front and back tension stresses are close to the experimental results.The paper lays a foundation for further analysing the three-dimensional stresses and deformations of strip rolling.

MENDED GENETIC BP NETWORK AND APPLICATION TO ROLLING FORCE PREDICTION OF 4-STAND TANDEM COLD STRIP MILL

In order to make good use of the ability to approach any function of BP (backpropagation) network and overcome its local astringency, and also make good use of the overallsearch ability of GA (genetic algorithms), a proposal to regulate the network's weights using bothGA and BP algorithms is suggested. An integrated network system of MGA (mended genetic algorithms)and BP algorithms has been established. The MGA-BP network's functions consist of optimizing GAperformance parameters, the network's structural parameters, performance parameters, and regulatingthe network's weights using both GA and BP algorithms. Rolling forces of 4-stand tandem cold stripmill are predicted by the MGA-BP network, and good results are obtained.

Application of a new feature extraction and optimization method to surface defect recognition of cold rolled strips

Considering that the surface defects of cold rolled strips are hard to be recognized by human eyes under high-speed circumstances, an automatic recognition technique was discussed. Spectrum images of defects can be got by fast Fourier transform （FFF） and sum of valid pixels （SVP）, and its optimized center region, which concentrates nearly all energies, are extracted as an original feature set. Using genetic algorithm to optimize the feature set, an optimized feature set with 51 features can be achieved. Using the optimized feature set as an input vector of neural networks, the recognition effects of LVQ neural networks have been studied. Experiment results show that the new method can get a higher classification rate and can settle the automatic recognition problem of surface defects on cold rolled strips ideally.

Improvement on strip flatness of cold temper mills by modifying roll contour shape

A study on roll gap profile (strip profile) control was accomplished in a1700 mm single-stand temper mill. Some critical problems such as the deviation of work roll contourcaused by grinding and wear, the effectiveness of work roll bending were discussed. Using a finiteelement model, the effects of roll contours (ground and wear) on strip profile were investigated.The roll bending effect on strip thickness was also analyzed. It is pointed out that there are somespecial features of flatness control in the temper mill: during temper rolling, roll deformation isslight due to small rolling load, and the loaded roll gap profile mainly depends on work rollcontour, while the backup roll has a little effect on gap crown; the effect of bending force ongauge can not be ignored due to the coupling between flatness control and gauge control. A new rollcontour arrangement adaptable to the mill was presented and has been put into practical production.The application of the new set of rolls showed some good results: larger crown control range of workroll bender, higher rolling stability, better strip profile and flatness quality.