October 14, 2021

Recording of the presentation "Optimization of roll groove design in hot rolling of steels"

Nowadays, the performance of numerical tools allows studying in silico the influence of operating parameters of industrial processes. This is true even for complex processes like hot rolling involving heat exchanges with ambient and rolls, and strongly non-linear material behavior of the rolled steel. In this work, numerical simulation has been specifically utilized to reduce the risk of surface defects during the rolling of a microalloyed grade in the LUNA rolling mill (ABS). In a stand identified as critical, the influence of the roll groove design on the surface damage is particularly investigated. First, the material model is calibrated in ABS Centre Métallurgique thanks to hot compression tests in temperature and strain-rate ranges that are consistent with the rolling conditions. Then, an optimization workflow is implemented in the pSeven® software. In this workflow, the optimizer drives the parameters that define the roll geometry. The geometry update using the CAD software SolidWorks® and the hot rolling simulation using Forge® are automated within the workflow, as well as the postprocessing of computations. The initial temperature field of the billet is simulated using the Digital Twin of the LUNA rolling mill including all the previous rolling passes and interpass times. After 50 runs, an optimal groove design has been determined to limit the risk of surface defects.