Middle East Technical University

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

MetE-215 Materials Processing Laboratory

Experiment 8: Mechanical Shaping of Metals: Cold Rolling

Instructor: Prof. Dr. R. Gürbüz

Assistant: Necdet Özgür Darıcıoğlu

Experiment Date: 25.11.2021

Submission Date: 06.12.2021

Group 7: SERDAR GÜLER, TANER GÖKTUĞ TEKİN, YİĞİT FURKAN

YENİAY, BİLGESU KARABACAK, TOPRAK ÇAKAL, İREMNUR KELEŞ,

KORAY BÜYÜKYILDIZ, MUHAMMED KAĞAN KUŞDEMİR, KARDELEN

POLAT, ELİF EREN, KÜBRA KARABULUT, UYGAR ERSOY

İremnur KELEŞ
2447662

1
ABSTRACT

In this experiment, the annealed copper sample at 500 degrees was first subjected to cold

rolling four times, then it was divided into four parts, and three parts were heat-treated at

the same temperature at different times. It was aimed to determine the effect of cold rolling

and heat treatment on the hardness and microstructure of copper. The length and thickness

of the copper sample, which was cold rolled four times, increased after each treatment. The

width has decreased due to the error made while putting it into the rolling mill. Microscale

mechanical properties were investigated with a hardness tester, and it was observed that the

hardness increased after rolling. It was observed that the hardness of copper samples

annealed at 350 degrees for different times (5 min, 15 min, 20 min) decreased as the

annealing time increased.

2
INTRODUCTION

Pure copper has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, high formability, high

corrosion resistance and easy fabrication. The important negative side is that it has low

strength and hardness. Pure copper can be strengthened by solid solution strengthening

mechanisms such as strain hardening, grain refinement and second phase strengthening.

Cold rolling, a common machining method used in this experiment, is inexpensive and easy

(Sun and Li. 2020). It saves energy as it does not need heat. It increases strength and

hardness by changing the material's crystal structure.

If we come to the annealing of copper, first of all, annealing is the process of heating the

metal to a specific temperature, keeping it at this temperature for a while and then cooling

it. If a cold-rolled metal is annealed, the effects of cold rolling are reversed because

annealing increases the material's ductility and reduces its hardness. (Gürbüz, 2021)

This report presents the change in hardness, and microscopic appearance of copper that has

been cold rolled four times and then annealed at the same temperature for different times.

The experiment aims to prove that the hardness of copper increases after cold rolling and

decreases after annealing.

3
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials

• Copper sheet which is annealed at 500 degrees Celsius

Equipment

• Vernier caliper and micrometer

• Universal hardness tester (Vickers, Rockwell and Brinell),

• Pyramid indenter

• Rolling mil

• Metallurgical sample cutting device

• Annealing furnace

Procedure

A small piece is cut from the original sample for microstructural analysis. The dimensions

of the sample are measured with caliper. The sample is placed in the hardness tester with a

pyramid tip and a preload is applied. A 30 kg base load is then applied. The hardness of the

sample is determined by measuring the distances in the formed trace area. Target thickness

is calculated based on %mm reduction. The roll spacing is adjusted according to the targeted

thickness. The sample is fed into the cylinder, it is important to feed the material straight so

that there is no change in width. Since the test is carried out at room temperature, it is

referred to as cold rolling. After rolling, the dimensions and hardness of the sample are

measured. Hardness and dimensional measurement and rolling are performed 4 times. The

sample is cut with a metallurgical sample cutting tool. It is divided into 4 parts with

simultaneous cooling with boron oil. One of the parts is released and the other 3 are

annealed at 350 degrees Celsius for different times (5min, 15min, 20min). The hardness of

4
the annealed parts is measured. Microstructural analysis of untreated copper, annealed

copper pieces and 4 times rolled copper is performed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

As a result of the experiment, the width, length, thickness, hardness, thickness, and

percentage increase in the sample area after cold rolling are given in Table 1. the measure

of the amount of reduction is found by calculating the percentage of cold work :

% CW (Thickness) = (ti-tf) / ti

% CW (Area) = (Ai-Af) / Ai

Table 1. Hardness values after each cold rolling.

As After 1. After 2. After 3. After 4.

SAMPLE Received Pass Pass Pass Pass

Hardness1(HV30) 41,43 68,95 84,02 98,19 100,72

Length(mm) 44,6 47 50,7 51,1 62

Width(mm) 39,6 39,8 39,7 39,7 38,8

Thickness(mm) 3,9 3,7 3,5 3,3 2,9

%Cold Work (Area) -5,9 -7,6 -0,79 -18,58

% Cold Work
(Thickness) 5,1 5,7 6 12,12

5
According to the measurement results, it was observed that the hardness of the sample

increased after cold rolling. After each rolling, the length increased, and the thickness

decreased. Since the material was not fed accurate to the cold rolling machine, a change in

width occurred. The thickness decrease rate, namely the percentage of cold working,

increased gradually after each rolling. The area increase rate, on the other hand, was

irregular.

Hardness vs %Cold Work (Thickness)

120

12,12; 100,72
6; 98,19
100

5,7; 84,02
Hardeness (HV30)

80
5,1; 68,95

60

0; 41,43
40

20

1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

%Cold Work (Thickness)

Figure 1. Hardness versus %Cold Work(Thickness)

6
 Hardness vs %Cold Work (Area)
120

-18,58; 100,72
-0,79; 98,19
100

-7,6; 84,02

80
Hardess(HV30)

-5,9; 68,95

60

0; 41,43
40

20

0
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0
%Cold Work (Area)
Figure 2. Hardness versus %Cold Work (Area)

After cold rolling four times, 3 of the pieces divided into four were annealed at 350 degrees

Celsius at different times. It came out slightly yellow from the copper oven fired for 5

minutes. Its color darkened as it cooled. The oxide layer of the copper fired for 15 minutes

was thicker than the first copper. The oxide layer of the copper, which was baked for 25

minutes, was thicker than the other two, and water cooling was applied. Hardness

measurements results of annealed coppers are given in Table 2.

7
Table 2. Hardness values after heat treatment.

Sample After 4. Pass 5 min. 15 min 25 min

Hardess (HV30) 100,72 97,03 44,43 42,48

As stated, before the experiment, annealing of the cold-rolled material reduced the hardness.

The difference between the hardness of copper samples annealed for 5 minutes and 15

minutes is considerably greater than the difference between the hardness of samples

annealed for 15 minutes and 25 minutes.

Annealing Time vs Hardness

120

0; 100,72
5; 97,03
100
Hardness (HV30)

80

60
15; 44,43 25; 42,48
40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Time (min)

Figure 3. Annealing Time versus Hardness

8
Figure 4 Initial sample Printed from Experiment7 Microstructures (Darıcıoğlu, 2021)

Figure 5 Four times cold-rolled sample Printed from Experiment7 Microstructures

(Darıcıoğlu, 2021)

While the grain sizes of the first sample (Figure 4) were isotropic, they became anisotropic

(Figure 5) after four cold rolling. A tight and fine-grained structure was obtained.

9
,

Figure 6 Annealed sample for 5 minutes at 350 C printed from Experiment7 Microstructures
(Darıcıoğlu, 2021)

Figure 7 Annealed sample for 15 minutes at 350 C printed from Experiment7

Microstructures (Darıcıoğlu, 2021)

Figure 8 Annealed sample for 25 minutes at 350 C printed from Experiment7

Microstructures (Darıcıoğlu, 2021)

10
Annealing changed the grain structure of the cold-rolled sample (Figure 6,7,8). The

annealing process enlarged tight and fine grain sizes

According to the results obtained, the thickness decreased, and the length increased after

each rolling. The area increased with the increase in length. Although the decrease in

thickness had the greatest value after the fourth pass, the increase in hardness was not much.

This may be because the hardness of the material can increase to a certain extent. Most of

the energy expended in cold rolling went to heat because it was observed that the

temperature of the sample increased after rolling. There were minor changes in the width at

rolling. The reason for that is the error made in the sample placement while experimenting.

The width does not change when the conditions are met, maybe because the width is

expected to increase when the thickness decreases while the length increases and balances

the total volume. The decrease rate of hardness as a result of annealing decreased as the

time increased, according to the graphic (Figure 3). This may be because the hardness of

the sample can decrease up to a certain point.

CONCLUSION

According to the data and graphics obtained because of the experiment, it has been proven

that the hardness of the material increases after cold rolling and the grain structure becomes

tight. At the end of the annealing, on the contrary, it was proved that the hardness decreased

and the grain size increased.

11
REFERENCES

Darıcoğlu, Ö. (2021) Experiment7 Microstructures

https://odtuclass2021f.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/218489/block_quickmail/attachments/11

811/1637850344_attachments.zip?forcedownload=1

Gürbüz, R. (2021) METE 215 Experiment 7 Lecture Notes

https://odtuclass2021f.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/449155/mod_resource/content/0/METE

%20215-Exp7-lecture%20notes.pdf

Sun, Shuo & Li, Ting-qu. (2020). Effect of cold rolling process on microstructure and

properties of T1 Copper sheet. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1605. 012132.

10.1088/1742-6596/1605/1/012132.

12