Rolling processes

Rolling is the process of reducing the thickness or changing the cross section
of a long work piece by compressive forces applied through a set of rolls, as
shown in figure (1).

Fig. (1)

Most rolling is carried out by hot working, called hot rolling, owing to the large
amount of deformation required. Hot-rolled metal is generally free of residual
stresses, and its properties are isotropic. Disadvantages of hot rolling are that
the product cannot be held to close tolerances, and the surface has a
characteristic oxide scale.
Steelmaking provides the most common application of rolling operations.
Figure (2) illustrates the sequence of steps in a steel rolling mill to show the
variety of products made. Similar steps occur in other basic metal industries.
The work starts out as a cast steel ingot that has just solidified. While it is still
hot, the ingot is placed in a furnace where it remains for many hours until it
has reached a uniform temperature throughout, so that the metal will flow
consistently during rolling. For steel, the desired temperature for rolling is
around 1200_C (2200_F). The heating operation is called soaking, and the
furnaces in which it is carried out are called soaking pits. From soaking, the
ingot is moved to the rolling mill, where it is rolled into one of three
intermediate shapes called blooms, billets, or slabs, as shown in figure (2).
 (Cross sectional area > 100 cm2 Thickness <6 mm
and with a width ≥ 2 x and width < 600

Thickness > 6
mm

(Cross sectional
area > 40x40

(Cross
sectional area

Fig. (2)
Flat rolling and its analysis:
Flat rolling is illustrated in Figures (1). It involves the rolling of slabs, strips,
sheets, and plates work parts of rectangular cross section in which the width is
greater than the thickness. In flat rolling, the work is squeezed between two
rolls so that its thickness is reduced by an amount called the draft:

𝑑 = ℎ° − ℎ𝑓 =2R (1-cosα) 1

Where d = draft, mm (in); ℎ°= starting thickness, mm (in); and ℎ𝑓 = final

thickness, mm (in).R = roll radius in mm and (α) = bite angle in degree. Draft is
sometimes expressed as a fraction of the starting stock thickness, called the
reduction

Where r = reduction. When a series of rolling operations are used, reduction is taken
as the sum of the drafts divided by the original thickness. In addition to thickness
reduction, rolling usually increases work width. This is called spreading, and it tends
to be most pronounced with low width-to-thickness ratios and low coefficients of
friction, so the volume of metal exiting the rolls equals the volume entering.

ℎ°𝑤°𝐿° = ℎ𝑓𝑤𝑓𝐿𝑓 3

Where wo and wf are the before and after work widths, mm (in); and Lo and Lf
are the before and after work lengths, mm (in). Similarly, before and after
volume rates of material flow must be the same, so the before and after
 velocities can be related:

ℎ°𝑤°𝑣° = ℎ𝑓𝑤𝑓𝑣𝑓 4

Where vo and vf are the entering and exiting velocities of the work.
The surface speed of the rolls is Vr the velocity of the strip increases from its
entry value of VO as it moves through the roll gap; the velocity of the strip is
highest at the exit from the roll gap and is denoted as Vf. The metal
accelerates in the roll gap in the same manner as an incompressible fluid
flowing through a converging channel.

Fig. (3)
Because the surface speed of the rigid roll is constant, there is relative sliding
between the roll and the strip along the arc of contact in the roll gap, L. At one point
along the contact length (called the neutral point or no-slip point) the velocity
of the strip is the same as that of the roll. To the left of this point, the roll moves
faster than the strip; to the right of this point, the strip moves faster than the roll.

Consequently, the frictional forces-which oppose motion between two slide bodies
act on the strip as shown above. On either side of this point, slipping and friction
occur between roll and work. The amount of slip between the rolls and the work
can be measured by means of the forward slip; a term used in rolling that is
defined:
 Where s = forward slip; vf = final (exiting) work velocity, m/s (ft/sec); and vr = roll
speed, m/s (ft/sec).
The rolls pull the material into the roll gap through a net frictional force on the
material. Thus, the net frictional force must be to the right in Fig. (3 b). This also
means that the frictional force to the left of the neutral point must be higher than the
friction force to the right. Although friction is necessary for rolling materials (just as it
is in driving a car on a road), energy is dissipated in overcoming friction. Thus,
increasing friction also increases rolling forces and power requirements. Thus, a
compromise is made in practice: Low and controlled friction is induced in rolling
through the use of effective lubricants.

The maximum possible draft is defined as in equation below; it can be shown that
this quantity is a function of the roll radius, R, and the coefficient of friction, μ,
between the strip and the roll by the following relationship:

dmax= 𝜇2𝑅 6

Thus, as expected, the higher the friction and the larger the roll radius, the greater
the maximum possible draft becomes. Note that this situation is similar to the use
of large tires (high R) and rough treads (high, μ.) on farm tractors and off-road
earthmoving equipment, thus permitting the vehicles to travel over rough terrain
without skidding.
Coefficient of friction in rolling depends on lubrication, work material, and working
temperature. In cold rolling, the value is around 0.1; in warm working, a typical
value is around 0.2; and in hot rolling, m is around 0.4. Hot rolling is often
characterized by a condition called sticking, in which the hot work surface
adheres to the rolls over the contact arc. This condition often occurs in the rolling
of steels and high-temperature alloys. When sticking occurs, the coefficient of
friction can be as high as 0.7. The consequence of sticking is that the surface
layers of the work are restricted to move at the same speed as the roll speed vr;
and below the surface, deformation is more severe in order to allow passage of
the piece through the roll gap.
The true strain experienced by the work in rolling is based on before and after
stock thicknesses. In equation form,

The true strain can be used to determine the average flow stress Yf applied to
the work material in flat rolling. Recall from eq. (3)
Roll force, Torque, and Power requirements:

The rolls apply pressure on the flat strip in order to reduce its thickness,
resulting in a roll force, F, as shown in Fig.4.

Fig. 4
Note that this force appears in the figure as perpendicular to the plane of the strip,
rather than at an angle. This is because, in practice, the arc of contact is very
small compared with the roll radius, so we can assume that the roll force is
perpendicular to the strip without causing significant error in calculations. The roll
force in flat rolling can be estimated from the formula

(For a frictionless situation; however, an estimate of the actual roll force, including
friction, may be made by increasing this calculated force by about 20%).The product (wL)
is the roll-work contact area, mm2 (in2). Contact length can be approximated by

The torque in rolling can be estimated by assuming that the roll force is
centred on the work as it passes between the rolls, and that it acts with a moment arm of
one-half the contact length L. Thus, torque for each roll is

The power required per roll can be estimated by assuming that (F) acts in the
middle of the arc of contact; thus, in Fig. (4), a = L/2. Therefore, the total power
(for two rolls), in S.I. units, is

Where F is in newton’s, L is in meters, and N is the revolutions per minute of the

roll.
In traditional English units, the total power can be expressed as

Where F is in pounds and L is in feet.

It can be seen from this example that large forces and power are required in rolling.
Inspection of Eqs. (9) and (12) indicates that force and/or power to roll a strip of
a given width and work material can be reduced by any of the following: (1) using hot
rolling rather than cold rolling to reduce strength and strain hardening (K and n) of
the work material; (2) reducing the draft in each pass; (3) using a smaller roll radius
R to reduce contact area and then reduce the force; and (4) using a lower rolling speed N
to reduce power.
Shape rolling:
In shape rolling, the work is deformed into a contoured cross section. Products made
by shape rolling include construction shapes such as I-beams, L-beams, and U channels;
rails for railroad tracks; and round and square bars and rods (see Figure
5). Most of the principles that apply in flat rolling are also applicable to shape
rolling. Shaping rolls are more complicated; and the work, usually starting as a
square shape. Designing the sequence of intermediate shapes and corresponding
rolls is called roll-pass design. Its goal is to achieve uniform deformation throughout the
cross section in each reduction.

Fig. 5

Rolling mills:
Various rolling mill configurations are available to deal with the variety of applications
and technical problems in the rolling process. The basic rolling mill consists of two
opposing rolls and is referred to as a two-high rolling mill, shown in Figure 6 (a). The
rolls in these mills have diameters in the range of 0.6 to 1.4 m (2.0–4.5 ft). The two-high
configuration can be either Reversing or Non reversing. In the Non reversing mill, the
work always passes through from the same side. The reversing mill allows the direction of
roll rotation to be reversed, so that the work can be passed through in either direction.
This permits a series of reductions to be made through the same set of rolls, simply by
passing through the work from opposite directions multiple times. The disadvantage of
the reversing configuration is the significant angular momentum possessed by large
rotating rolls and the associated technical problems involve
 In two high reversing mills the numbers of mills
are two only. The rolls rotate first in one direction
and then in the other, so that rolled metal may pass
back and forth through rolls several times. These
are used in slab mills for rough work on plate, rail,
structural and other mills. These are expensive
compared to non-reversing mills.

In two high non reversing mills, two rolls revolve

continuously in same direction; therefore less costly
motive power can be used. But every time material
needs to be carried back over top of the mill to pass
again through rolls.

b) Three high rolling mills Three high rolling mills

consists of roll stand with three parallel rolls one
above the other. Adjacent rolls rotate in opposite
direction. The material will be passed between top
and the middle roll in one direction and bottom and
middle in opposite. Here the work piece is rolled on
both forward and return passes. First work piece
passes through bottom and middle rolls and return
between middle and top rolls. The thickness will be
reduced at each pass. Mechanically operated lift
cables are used to move the material and to feed
automatically into roll gap. The rolling mills may be
plain or grooved to produce plate or sections.

c) Four high rolling mills Four high rolling mills

have a roll stand with four parallel rolls one above
the other. The top and the bottom rolls rotate in
opposite direction. Rolling is carried out by two
middle rolls. Two middle rolls are smaller in size
than the top and bottom rolls which are called
backup rolls for providing the necessary rigidity to
the smaller rolls. Used for hot rolling of plates as
well as cold rolling of plates, sheets and strip
 d) Tandem rolling mills
In tandem rolling set of two or three stands of roll
set in parallel alignment, so the strip is rolled
continuously as it passes through number of stands.
A group of stands is called train. The control of gage
and the speed at which the strip travels through each
roll gap is critical. Flat rolling can be carried out
with front tension using idling rolls.

e) Cluster mill
It is a special type of four high rolling mill in which
each of the two working rolls is backup by two or
more of the larger backup rolls for rolling hard in
materials. It may be necessary to employ work rolls
of a very small diameter but of considerable length.
In such cases adequate of the working rolls can be
obtained by using a cluster mill.

It is particularly used for cold rolling of thin strips of high strength metals. The width of
product can be as wide as 5000 mm & as thin as 0.0025 mm. the diameter of the work roll
the smallest roll can be as small as 6 mm and is made of tungsten carbide for rigidity,
strength and wear resistance.

Mini mills
In mini mills the melted scrap metal through electric arc furnace is directly rolled in to
specific products. Each mill produces one kind of rolled product such as rod, bar or
structural shapes from one type of metal.
Extrusion Process

Extrusion is a compression process in which the work metal is forced to flow through a
die opening to produce a desired cross-sectional shape. As shown in figure (1).

Figure (1) Extrusion process (direct extrusion)

The process is similar to squeezing tooth paste out of the tube. This process is used mostly
for metals that are ductile, including copper, steel, aluminium and magnesium; it is also
used for some plastics and rubbers. Common examples of parts made by extrusion are the
aluminium frames of white-boards, door and window-frames, aluminium ladders, tubing,
etc. Usually, long strips of the required cross-section are extruded and sold as raw-stock.
Any hardware store will have between ten and hundred different cross-section bars –
almost all are made by extrusion. The process can be used to make hollow as well as solid
cross-sections.

Types of Extrusion process:

There are many classifications for the extrusion processes, it may classify depending on
the extrusion direction as direct and indirect another classification is by working
temperature as cold or warm or hot extrusion.

Direct extrusion (also called forward extrusion) is illustrated in Figure (1). A

metal billet is loaded into a container, and a ram compresses the material, forcing it to
flow through one or more openings in a die at the opposite end of the container. As the
ram approaches the die, a small portion of the billet remains that cannot be forced through
the die opening. This extra portion, called the butt, is separated from the product by
cutting it just beyond the exit of the die. One of the problems in direct extrusion is the
significant friction that exists between the work surface and the walls of the container
as the billet is forced to slide toward the die opening. This friction causes a substantial
increase in the ram force required in direct extrusion. In hot extrusion, the friction
problem is aggravated by the presence of an oxide layer on the surface of the billet. This
oxide layer can cause defects in the extruded product. To solve these problems, a dummy
block is often used between the ram and the work billet.
The diameter of the dummy block is slightly smaller than the billet diameter, so that a
narrow ring of work metal (mostly the oxide layer) is left in the container, leaving the
final product free of oxides. Hollow sections (e.g., tubes) are possible in direct extrusion
by the process setup in Figure (2). The starting billet is prepared with a hole parallel to its
axis .This allows passage of a mandrel that is attached to the dummy block. As the billet
is compressed, the material is forced to flow through the clearance between the mandrel
and the die opening.

Figure (2) (a) Direct extrusion to produce a hollow or semi –hollow cross section; (b) Hollow and
(c) Semi-hollow cross sections.

Indirect extrusion, also called backward extrusion and reverse extrusion, Figure
3(a), the die is mounted to the ram rather than at the opposite end of the container.
As the ram move, the metal is forced to flow through the clearance in a direction opposite to
the motion of the ram. Since the billet is not forced to move relative to the container, there
is no friction at the container walls, and the ram force is therefore lower than in direct
extrusion. Limitations of indirect extrusion are imposed by the lower rigidity of the
hollow ram and the difficulty in supporting the extruded product as it exits the die.

Figure (3) indirect extrusion to produce (a) a solid cross section and (b) a hollow cross section
Indirect extrusion can produce hollow (tubular) cross sections, as in Figure 3(b).
There are practical limitations on the length of the extruded part that can be
made by this method. Support of the ram becomes a problem as work length
increases.

Hot extrusion involves prior heating of the billet to a temperature above

(0.5Tm). This reduces strength and increases ductility of the metal,
permitting more extreme size reductions and more complex shapes to be
achieved in the process. Additional advantages include reduction of ram force,
increased ram speed. Cooling of the billet as it contacts the container walls is a
problem, and isothermal extrusion is sometimes used to overcome this
problem.

Cold extrusion and warm extrusion are generally used to produce discrete
parts, often in finished (or near finished) form. Some important advantages of
cold extrusion include increased strength due to strain hardening, close
tolerances, improved surface finish, absence of oxide layers, and high
production rates. Cold extrusion at room temperature also eliminates the need
for heating the starting billet.

Impact Extrusion: Impact extrusion is performed at higher speeds and shorter

strokes than conventional extrusion. It is used to make individual components.
As the name suggests, the punch impacts the work part rather than simply
applying pressure to it. Impacting can be carried out as forward extrusion,
backward extrusion, or combinations of these. Some representative examples
are shown in Figure (5). Impact extrusion is usually done cold on a variety of
metals. Backward impact extrusion is most common. Products made by this
process include toothpaste tubes and battery cases. As indicated by these
examples, very thin walls are possible on impact extruded parts. The high-speed
characteristics of impacting permit large reductions and high production rates,
making this an important commercial process.

Hydrostatic Extrusion

One of the problems in direct extrusion is friction along the billet– container
interface. This problem can be addressed by surrounding the billet with fluid
inside the container and pressurizing the fluid by the forward motion of the ram,
as in Figure 6.6 This way, there is no friction inside the container, and friction at
the die opening is reduced. Consequently, ram force is significantly lower than
in direct extrusion. The fluid pressure acting on all surfaces of the billet gives
the process its name. It can be carried out at room temperature or at elevated
temperatures. Special fluids and procedures must be used at elevated
temperatures. Hydrostatic extrusion is an adaptation of direct extrusion.
Hydrostatic pressure on the work increases the material’s ductility.
Accordingly, this process can be used on metals that would be too brittle for
conventional extrusion operations. Ductile metals can also be hydrostatically
extruded, and high reduction ratios are possible on these materials. One of the
disadvantages of the process is the required preparation of the starting
work billet. The billet must be formed with a taper at one end to fit snugly into
the die entry angle. This establishes a seal to prevent fluid from squirting out the
die hole when the container is initially pressurized.

Fig (5) several examples of impact extrusion: (a) forward, (b) Backward,
(c) Combination of forward and backward.

Fig (6) Hydrostatic extrusion

Defects In Extruded Products

Owing to the considerable deformation associated with extrusion operations, a

number of defects can occur in extruded products. The defects can be classified
into the following categories, illustrated in Figure 7.

Fig (7) some common defects in extrusion: (a) centerburst, (b) piping,
and (c) surface cracking.

(a) Centerburst. This defect is an internal crack that develops as a result of

tensile stresses along the centerline of the work part during extrusion. Although
tensile stresses may seem unlikely in a compression process such as extrusion,
they tend to occur under conditions that cause large deformation in the regions
of the work away from the central axis. The significant material movement in
these outer regions stretches the material along the center of the work. If
stresses are great enough, bursting occurs. Conditions that promote centerburst
are high die angles, low extrusion ratios, and impurities in the work metal that
serve as starting points for crack defects. The difficult aspect of centerburst is its
detection. It is an internal defect that is usually not noticeable by visual
observation. Other names sometimes used for this defect include arrowhead
fracture, center cracking, and chevron cracking.

(b) Piping. Piping is a defect associated with direct extrusion. As in Figure 7(b),
it is the formation of a sink hole in the end of the billet. The use of a dummy
block whose diameter is slightly less than that of the billet helps to avoid piping.
Other names given to this defect include tailpipe and fishtailing.
(c) Surface cracking. This defect results from high workpart temperatures that
cause cracks to develop at the surface. They often occur when extrusion speed is
too high, leading to high strain rates and associated heat generation. Other
factors contributing to surface cracking are high friction and surface chilling of
high temperature billets in hot extrusion.

Advantages of the extrusion process: There are several advantages of the

modern extrusion process

1. A variety of shapes are possible, especially with hot extrusion.

2. Grain structure and strength properties are enhanced in cold and

warm extrusion.

3. Fairly close tolerances are possible, especially in cold extrusion.

4. Little or no wasted material is created.

However, a limitation is that the cross section of the extruded part must be
uniform throughout its length.

Analysis of extrusion:

Let us use Figure 4 as a reference in discussing some of the parameters in

extrusion. The diagram assumes that both billet and extrudate are round in cross
section. One important parameter is the extrusion ratio, also called the
reduction ratio. The ratio is defined:

Under the assumption of ideal deformation (no friction and no redundant work),
the pressure applied by the ram to compress the billet through the die opening
depicted in our figure can be computed as follows:
 Where Yf = average flow stress during deformation, MPa (lb/in2)

Figure (4) Pressure and other variables in direct extrusion.

Friction exists between the die and the work as the billet squeezes down and
passes through the die opening. In direct extrusion, friction also exists between
the container wall and the billet surface. The following empirical equation
proposed by Johnson for estimating extrusion strain (in friction condition):

Where εx = extrusion strain; and a and b are empirical constants for a given die
angle. Typical values of these constants are: a = 0.8 and b = 1.2 to 1.5. Values
of a and b tend to increase with increasing die angle.

Indirect extrusion the ram pressure to perform can be estimated based on

Johnson’s extrusion strain formula as follows:

In direct extrusion, the effect of friction between the container walls and the
billet causes the ram pressure to be greater than for indirect extrusion, the
following formula can be used to compute ram pressure in direct extrusion:

Where the term 2L/Do accounts for the additional pressure due to friction at the
container–billet interface. L is the portion of the billet length remaining to be
extruded, and Do is the original diameter of the billet. Note that p is reduced as
the remaining billet length decreases during the process. Ram force in indirect
or direct extrusion is simply pressure p from Eqs. (5) or (6), respectively,
multiplied by billet area Ao:

Where F = ram force in extrusion, N (lb).