Tribology issues in Rolling

Introduction
• In processes like sheet hot rolling and cross-wedge-rolling, friction is necessary despite
all the consequent problems it causes. For instance, rolling is not possible if the friction
coefficient is less than a minimum value, as it can be seen in Fig.2: high coefficients
cause an excessive increase of the specific pressure, while a small coefficient tends to
move the neutral section, where occurs the transition from backward to forward slip,
to the exit of the arc of contact, and therefore the plate tends to backward slip without
rolling

• In rolling process, the contact friction is of crucial importance for the accurate
modeling, optimum design and control of industrial rolling processes. As it has a
relationship with the rolling force and rolling pressure distribution, friction affects the
roll gap and roll wear. As a result, it affects the shape, profile, dimensional accuracy
and surface quality of the steel strip.
Role of friction in rolling

Fig 1-On the inlet side, the surface of the roll moves faster than the work piece and
on the outlet side the work piece moves faster. This causes friction to act on the
work piece toward the neutral point, N. Source-Mechanical metallurgy ;Hosford and
cadell
Fig 2-a Plate rolling b Specific pressure distribution along the axis in the contact length l as a
function of friction coefficient (l) for h1/h0 = 1.3 and h1/D = 0.012;Source-Tribology of Manufacturing
process,J. Paulo Davim
Cont…
• It is important to characterize the features of the oxide scale in hot strip rolling of steels
because the oxide scale on the strip surface affects friction and thermal conductivity
coefficient. The oxide scale layer influences the heat transfer at the interface between
the strip and the roll.
• The thermal conductivity of oxide scale is a factor of about 10–15 times less than that of
steel. It also influences the rate of heat loss between rolling passes. Consequently, the
rolling force and the friction condition depend on the thickness and the microstructure
of the oxide scale.
• During the hot strip rolling process of steels, thick oxide scales (primary scale) formed on
the slabs during reheating are removed by a hydraulic descaler prior to the roughing
process. After 3–7 passes of rolling in the roughing mill, more oxide scales (secondary
oxide scale) formed on the steel surface during rough rolling are removed by a high-
pressure steam descaler immediately after the roughing rolling mill, and the other high-
pressure steam descaler immediately before the finishing mill. Oxide scale formed
during finishing rolling (tertiary oxide scale) is retained to room temperature after
laminar flow cooling and coiling.
Cont…
• The deformation behavior of oxide scale is an important subject in hot strip rolling,
which may depend on oxide scale thickness, constitution and rolling parameters .
The mechanical properties of oxide scale are attributed to temperature. As the
oxide scale formed during finishing process is not fractured but adheres well to the
steel substrate, it is believed to be deformable during finishing rolling.
• The thickness of oxide scale is repeatedly reduced at each rolling stand in the same
proportion as that of the steel substrate. The oxide scale thickness grows while the
steel strip is travelling between adjacent stands. Therefore, the oxide scale
thickness is determined by three factors: strip surface temperatures, strip speeds
through the finishing mills and rolling reductions.
• Although several descaling approaches have been proposed, they cannot always
remove the oxide scale before rolling . In practice, oxide scale is playing a growing
importance in determining the friction in hot strip rolling and the surface quality of
hot strip.
 Friction in Hot Rolling and Tribological
Effect of Oxide Scale

Evaluation of Friction in Hot Rolling

• A detailed study of friction is important for a thorough understanding of the
mechanical and metallurgical behaviour of hot rolling steels. Both direct
measurement and indirect methods have been developed to determine friction.
• The measurement of friction is difficult due to its variation in roll gap. The direct
measurement method such as inscribed gridlines and embedded pin inserts has
been developed. The inscribed gridlines is more expensive and time consuming
than the embedded pin inserts techniques.
• Embedded pin transducer systems can provide much useful information on
friction in hot strip rolling , but it is very difficult to manage and operate. It does
not fit for hot rolling where the oxide scale forms on the steel surface [71]. The
accuracy strongly depends on the positions of the pin transducers relative to the
surface of tool.
Cont….
• Indirect estimation methods have been adopted because of the above limitation.
Lundberg adopted forward slip measurements under normal production
conditions to evaluate the coefficient of friction in the hot rolling of steel bars.
• Considering the effect of oxide scale another researcher Li developed
forward/backward slip measurement method for determining friction in hot strip
rolling.
• In this method, the neutral angle was derived from forward and backward slip
values. Assuming an Amontons-coulomb friction law, the constant roll pressure
along the arc contact and constant slab width, an equation has been established
for determining the relationship between the neutral angle and the friction
coefficient.
• Other methods include bite angle measurements, ring upsetting tests etc.
Cont…

Tribological Effect of Oxide Scale

• The deformation or fracture of oxide scale affects the interface between the roll
and the strip due to (1) the thermal conductivity of oxide scale is much less than
that of steel substrate; (2) the crack in scale enables hot substrate to contact with
the cold roll, and (3) possibility of sliding of the fractured scale raft on substrate.
• The oxide scale on hot steel substrate is the key for the control of friction and
heat transfer at the interface between the roll and the strip.
Fig 2-The coefficient of
friction as a function of
oxide
scale index and roll
roughness (scale index
expressed in mass gain
per
unit surface area)
Cont…

Carbon Steel
• In case of oxide scale formation and coefficient of friction in the hot flat rolling of
steels. It was concluded that the oxide scale thickness affects the coefficient of
friction with temperature change. A thick oxide scale provides lubricity and
generates a lower coefficient of friction while a thin oxide scale is more adherent
to the metal substrate and related to a higher coefficient of friction.
• Any material between two contacting surfaces should be considered as a lubricant
. The normal roughness of the roll surface and degree of oxide scale can account
for the force separating the roll to a magnitude of 44 % and for torque up to 58 %.
• The influence of oxide scale on the coefficient of friction in hot steel rolling of
carbon steel strip. It was pointed out that the most significant parameter
determining the coefficient of friction is the thickness of oxide scale layer in
between the rolled stock and the work roll. Generally, thicker oxide scales cause
lower friction.
Cont…

• The complex interactions at the stock-roll interface due to the presence of

secondary oxide scale, and a new Coulomb-Newton type friction model for long
products and bar sections is applicable for such interaction.
• If oxide scale is thin, it may not act as a lubricant because it adheres to the
substrate. Luong and Heijkoop investigated the influence of both oxide scale
thickness and oxide scale composition on interfacial friction in hot metal working.
• A number of factors, including porosity, oxides present in the layer, and the
chemical composition of the steel influence the formation of wustite, determine
the strength of the oxides and therefore the coefficient of friction.
• On the other hand, oxide scale can help reduce wear by protecting against loss of
metal due to mechanical damage . It is also beneficial for the tool surface when it
acts as a lubricant in hot metal forming, but it may become abrasive if it comes
off the work-piece and cause damage to the tool surface.
Fig 3-Relationship between friction coefficient and rolling reduction during hot rolling of
301 and 430 steels
Cont…

Stainless Steels
• A calculation code developed by Alexander on the basis of Orowan’s model was
adopted for inversely determining the coefficient of friction in the processes of
hot rolling of stainless steels . It is capable of handling the mixed boundary
condition at the roll-material interface.
• In the case of 301 stainless steel, the calculated values of coefficients of friction
decrease with an increase of rolling reduction. When the reheating time is 35
min, which results in thick oxide scale, the difference of the values of coefficients
of friction between the reduction of 10 and 20 % is much larger than that
between 20 and 30 %.
• This means that the thicker oxide scale shows higher lubricative effect, and the
microstructure of oxide scale of 301 stainless steel becomes stable after hot
rolling at the reduction of 20 %, so the lubricative effect also becomes stable
• On the contrary, the calculated values of coefficients of friction basically increase
with an increase of reduction in the case of 430 stainless steel. The values reach
0.65 when the reduction is around 30 %, which is quite high. This may also result
from the non-uniform oxide scale no matter what the reheating time is 25 or 35
min.
• The thin oxide scales break on many places, which make the steel substrate to
extrude from crack to contact the roll. This counts the lubricative effect of oxide
scale, and increases the coefficient of friction. The number of breakings of oxide
scales increases with an increase of reduction, so the values of coefficients of
friction increase with an increase of reduction.
• Sticking may occur under this situation. If a relative thick and uniform oxide scale
layer can be generated to reduce the breaking of the oxide scale, not only will the
friction condition be improved, but also the problem of sticking in the hot rolling
of ferritic stainless steel can be alleviated.