UNIT 3 – METAL FORMING

Chapter – 2
Rolling

Rolling: Types of Rolling Mills, Roll Product Technology, Force and Power Calculation.
Introduction

• Rolling is a forming operation on cylindrical rolls wherein cross sectional area of a bar or plate is reduced with a corresponding increase in
length.

• The metal is thinned and elongated by compression and shear forces but increased in width only slightly.

• Because of the high surface finish maintained on the rolls, the surface of stock is burnished by the rolling action and attains a smooth bright
finish.

• This process is one of the most widely used of all the metal working processes, because of its high productivity and low cost.
• Rolling would be able to produce components having constant cross-section throughout its length.
• Many shapes such as I, T, L and channel sections are possible, but not very complex shapes.

• It is also possible to produce special sections such as railway wagon wheels by rolling individual pieces.
Typical Rolling Shapes

Types of Rolling Mills

• The arrangement of rolls in a rolling mill, also called rolling stand, varies depending on the application.
• The names of the rolling-stand arrangements are generally given by the number of rolls
employed.

Two - High Roll

• The 2-high non-reversing rolling-stand arrangement is the most common
arrangement.

Two - High Roll

• Both the rolls rotate in opposite directions to one another as shown in.
• Their direction of rotation is fixed and cannot be reversed. Thus, the work can be rolled by
feeding from one direction only.
• The space between the rolls can be adjusted by raising or lowering the upper roll. The
position of the lower roll is fixed.
• There is another type of two-high mill which incorporates a drive mechanism that can
reverse the direction of rotation of the rolls.
• This facilitates rolling of the workpiece continuously through back-and-forth passes
between the rolls.
Three - High Roll
• This stand arrangement is used for rolling of two continuous passes in a rolling sequence
without reversing the drives.
• After all the metal has passed through the bottom roll set, the end of the metal is entered
into the other set of the rolls for the next pass.

• For this purpose a table-tilting arrangement is required to bring the metal to the level with
the rolls.

• This arrangement may be used for blooming, billet rolling or finish rolling.
Four - High Rolls
• This rolling stand is essentially a two-high rolling mill, but with small-sized rolls.

• The other two rolls are the back-up rolls for providing the necessary rigidity to the small
rolls.

• These mills are generally employed for subsequent rolling of slabs.

• The common products of these mills are hot or cold rolled sheets and plates.
Cluster rolls
• It consists of two working rolls of smaller diameter and four or more back-up rolls of
larger diameter.

• The number of back-up rolls may go as high as 20 or more, depending upon the amount of
support needed for the working rolls during the operation.

• This type of mill is generally used for cold rolling.

Planetary mill
• For the rolling arrangements requiring large
reduction, a number of free rotating wheels
instead of a single small roll, are fixed to a
large back-up roll in the planetary rolling mill
arrangement
Roll Product Technology

• The principle and mechanism of rolling is illustrated in the figure below:

• The rolls are in contact with the passing metal piece over a sufficient distance, represented by the arc LM.
• The angle LOM subtended at the centre of the roll by the arc LM is called the ‘angle of contact (α)’ or the ‘maximum angle of bite’.

• It is the friction between the surfaces of the metal piece and the rolls which provides the required grip of rolls over the metal piece to draw the
latter through them.

• The greater the coefficient of friction more the possible reduction.

• The pressure exerted over the metal by the roller is not uniform throughout, it is minimum at both the extremities L and M and maximum at a
point, known as no-slip point or the point of maximum pressure.
• At this point the surfaces of the metal and the roll move at the same speed.
• Before reaching this point, i.e., from L to S the metal moves slower than the roll
and the frictional force acts in the direction to draw the metal piece into the
rolls.

• After crossing the neutral point S, i.e., from S to M, the metal moves faster than
the roll surface, as if it is being extruded, and the friction opposes the travel
tending to hold the metal track.

• This results in setting up of stresses within the metal to obstruct its reduction.
• Let ti, li, biand tf, lfand bf be the initial and final thickness, lengths and breadths of the
metal piece respectively. Then,
• Absolute draft, δt = (ti – tf) mm
• Absolute elongation, δl = (lf – li) mm
• Absolute spread, δb = (bf – bi) mm
• Spread is proportional to the draft and depends upon the thickness and width of the job.

• Spread increases with increase in roll diameter and co-efficient of friction, as well as
with a fall in temperature of the metal in course of hot rolling.

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����������������

����x 100
����

• At the moment of bite, two forces act on the metal from the side of each roll, radial or
normal force P and the tangential forced frictional force μP where μ is the co-efficient
of friction between the metal and roll surfaces.

• The part would be dragged in if the resultant of horizontal component of the normal force P and tangential force μP is directed in that
direction.

• In the limiting case,

P sin α = μP cos α
μ = tan α
α = tan–1 μ
–1
• When α > tan μ, the metal would not enter the space between the rolls automatically, that is unaided.
• The maximum permissible angle of bite (or contact) depends upon the value of ‘μ’ which in turn depends upon :

• Materials of rolls
• Job being rolled
• Roughness of their surfaces
• Rolling temperature
• Speed
• In hot rolling, the value of α and hence of μ should be greater since the maximum possible reduction is desired . Usually in hot rolling
lubrication is not necessary.

• In cold rolling, since the rolling loads are very high μ should not be much . Rolls for cold rolling are ground and lubricants are employed to
reduce μ.

• The volume of metal that enters the rolling stand should be the same as that leaving it except in initial passes when there might be some loss
due to filling of voids and cavities in the ingots.

• Since the area of the cross-section gets decreased, the metal leaving the rolls would be at a higher velocity than when it entered.
• Initially when the metal enters the rolls, the surface speed of rolls is higher than that of the incoming metal, whereas the metal velocity at the
exit is higher than that of surface speed of the rolls.

• Between the entrance and exit, the velocity of the metal is continuously changing, whereas the roll velocity remains constant.
Formulae

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������������ (��) = ln ��������

�������������� �������� ������������ (����) =�� ����

1 + ��

�������������� ����������ℎ (��) = ��. ����

�������� ���������� (��) = ���� �� ��

�������� ������������ �� = 0.5 ��. ��

���������� ���������������� ������ �������� ���� ���� �� = 2��������

60000
 ���������� ���� ���� 0.746
���� ℎ�� �� =
where;
μ = coefficient of friction R = Radius of roll in ‘mm’ ti = Initial thickness in ’mm’ tf = Final thickness in ‘mm’ K, n = Flow curve
parameters; K in MPa
b = Width of the workpiece material in ‘mm’
N = speed of roll in ‘rpm’
Problems on Rolling Process

1. A 300mm wide strip 25-mm thick is fed through a rolling mill with two powered rolls each of radius =250 mm. The work thickness is to be
reduced is 22 mm in one pass at a roll speed of 50 rev/min. The work material has a flow curve defined by K = 275 MPa and n = 0.15 and
the coefficient of friction between the rolls and the work is assumed to be O.12. Determine if the friction is sufficient to permit the rolling
operation to be accomplished. If so, calculate the roll force, torque and horsepower.
Problems on Rolling Process

2. A 200mm wide strip 20-mm thick is fed through. A rolling mill with two powered rolls each of radius =150 mm. The work thickness is to be
reduced is 15 mm in one pass at a roll speed of 60 rev/min. The work material has a flow curve defined by K = 250 MPa and n = 0.20 and
the coefficient of friction between the rolls and the work is assumed to be O.14. Determine if the friction is sufficient to permit the rolling
operation to be accomplished. If so, calculate the roll force, torque and horsepower.