Patent Publication Number: US-7213432-B2

Title: Hot rolling installation

Description:
The invention concerns a hot rolling installation for rolling thin hot strip for a wide variety of materials that can be deformed with varying degrees of difficulty and a method of operating a hot rolling installation of this type. 
   Seven-stand hot rolled strip trains are known, which are located after continuous casting installations and soaking furnaces. Hot rolled strip made of materials that can be deformed with varying degrees of difficulty can be rolled with these types of hot rolling installations in thicknesses of 1.5 to 1.2 mm, and the strip still has austenitic microstructure at the outlet of the last rolling stand. The strip speed at the outlet of the last rolling stand can also be controlled with simply designed units of machinery following the hot rolling installation, such as shears and coilers. 
   A further reduction in the thickness of the rolled strip is not possible with these trains, at least for readily deformable materials. There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, the mean temperature of the strip at the outlet of the last rolling stand of the hot rolled strip train must not fall below the temperature (about 860° C.) required for austenitic rolling, and, on the other hand, the speed at the outlet of the last stand of the hot rolled strip finishing train should not exceed about 12.5 m/s, since otherwise the hot strip can no longer be perfectly guided by simple means on the delivery roller table and subsequently coiled. Furthermore, coilers that must be accelerated to peripheral speeds of more than 15 m/s for coiling the strip are complicated, expensive, and difficult to control. 
   If readily deformable material is to be rolled in the austenitic range to thicknesses below 1.2 mm, and especially below 1 mm, these previously known installations result in delivery speeds from the last stand of more than 15 m/s. If slower delivery speeds are set, the strip temperature in the last stands already falls below the temperature required for austenitic rolling, i.e., austenitic rolling no longer occurs. 
   When material that is more difficult to deform is being rolled, thicknesses even smaller than 1.2 mm can be achieved with the seven-stand hot rolled strip trains, since, as a result of the great rolling energy, austenitic microstructure can still be found after the last rolling stand even at lower speeds. However, the hot rolling installation is not suitable for readily deformable material with small final thicknesses. 
   It is already known that seven-stand rolling trains of this type can be started up at a low speed, and then the entire installation can be accelerated after the buildup of tension by the coiler. The strip rolled during the acceleration phase often must be discarded, so that installations of this type operate inefficiently. 
   Furthermore, especially the drive elements of the hot rolling installation are subjected to greater stress and faster wear at higher speeds, so that expensive drive components, coilers, and shears, and considerably more exact and more dynamic control mechanisms must be provided to ensure the desired strip quality. 
   The objective of the invention is to design a hot rolling installation and a method of operating the hot rolling installation in such a way that, even in the rolling of readily deformable materials, after the rolling operation at delivery thicknesses below 1.2 mm, and especially below 1 mm, the strip temperatures are still high enough to ensure austenitic rolling, and yet the delivery speed of the rolled strip does not exceed 15 m/s, so that more easily controllable operating sequences are obtained, installation wear is reduced, and the costs can also be kept low with simply designed units of machinery. 
   This objective is achieved by a hot rolling installation with the features of Claim  1 . Of course, this rolling installation allows hot rolled strip of varying degrees of deformability to be rolled to thicknesses down to about 1.2 mm without any problem. However, even rolled strip thicknesses below 1.2 mm, and especially below 1 mm, can be rolled with acceptable expense by the combination of the features of the invention for materials that can be deformed with varying degrees of difficulty. 

   
     The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the drawing. The drawing shows a hot rolling installation, which can be operated in each case for materials that can be deformed with varying degrees of difficulty in such a way that, regardless of the material that is used and despite the different conditions that thus become established for all of the materials, the final rolling temperatures that occur at the last stand ensure austenitic rolling, and speeds less than about 15 m/s are achieved. 
   

   The hot rolling installation consists of a thin slab casting line  1 , whose strand guide can be controlled in such a way that thin slab thicknesses of about 45 to 70 mm are obtained at the outlet of the thin slab casting line  1 . The continuously cast thin slabs can be cut by a shear  2 . The slabs can be adjusted to lengths that correspond to the length of a finished coil or a multiple thereof. The cut slabs are maintained at a temperature of, e.g., 1,150° C. in a roller hearth furnace  3  to effect temperature equalization. The roller hearth furnace  3  is followed by a shear  4 , which is used only in the event of damage. 
   The roller hearth furnace  3  is followed by a descaling sprayer  5 , which is followed by a seven-stand rolling train  7  with the rolling stands F 1  to F 7 . The outlet of the rolling train  7  is followed by a cooling line  8 , which is followed in the direction of strip flow by a flying shear  9 , which is used in the case of semicontinuous or continuous rolling. The hot rolling installation ends with two coilers  10 , which may be alternatively designed as a rotary coiler. 
   An inter stand descaling device  6  is positioned between rolling stand F 1  and rolling stand F 2 . 
   Depending on the material and the desired final thicknesses, various rolling methods are possible: 
   If materials that are difficult to deform are to be rolled, then the thin slab casting line  1  is adjusted in such a way that, depending on the desired final thickness and casting machine output, slabs with thicknesses of 45 to 70 mm, and preferably 55 mm, are used. All seven stands F 1  to F 7  are engaged. The inter stand descaling device  6  is inactive. In this type of operation, the high rolling forces and the large amount of energy to be introduced into the difficulty deformable material that is to be rolled make it possible to achieve rolled strip thicknesses at the outlet of rolling stand F 7  of less than 1 mm, while a speed of about 15 m/s is not exceeded, and yet rolled strip with austenitic microstructure is obtained. 
   If readily deformable material is to be rolled to final thicknesses&gt;1 mm, then thin slab thicknesses of 55 to 70 mm are selected. All of the stands F 1  to F 7  are active, while the inter stand descaling device  6  is inactive. 
   During the rolling of readily deformable material with final thicknesses below 1 mm, the thin slab casting line  1  must be adjusted to thin slab thicknesses of 45 to 50 mm. The rolling stand F 1  is either inactive or engaged for a skin pass with low reduction. The skin pass causes the slab surface to become smoother, so that a more uniform layer of scale can develop after the descaling sprayer  5 . The active inter stand descaling device  6  can thus more easily remove the newly formed scale, i.e., less descaling agent is applied to the slabs than if the stand F 1  were not adjusted for a skin pass. 
   The stands F 2  to F 7  are usually engaged slightly more strongly than in the operation in which all seven stands are engaged. As a result of the fact that only stands F 2  to F 7  are operated, lower final rolling speeds are achieved. However, due to the smaller entry slab thickness and the stronger engagement of stands F 2  to F 7 , final rolling thicknesses of less than 1 mm are achieved, and the rolling stock has temperatures in the austenitic microstructure range. 
   The hot rolling installation of the invention thus makes it possible to roll both readily deformable and difficulty deformable materials to thicknesses of less than 1 mm in the austenitic range, without the delivery speed at rolling stand F 7  exceeding 15 m/s. The entire process can thus be simply designed, and the units of machinery of the hot rolling installation, such as shears and coilers, retain their simple, cost-effective design. Increased expenditure of work is not necessary. 
   LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS 
   
       
         1 . thin slab casting line 
         2 . shear 
         3 . roller hearth furnace 
         4 . emergency shear 
         5 . descaling sprayer 
         6 . inter stand descaling device 
         7 . rolling train 
         8 . cooling line 
         9 . flying shear 
         10 . coiler