Rolling Process

Rolling Process
• Rolling is a metal forming process in which the thickness of the work
is reduced by compressive forces exerted by two rolls rotating in
opposite direction.
• The basic process shown in figure is flat rolling (1600), used to
reduce the thickness of a rectangular cross section. A closely related
process is shape rolling (1783), in which a square cross section is
formed into a shape such as an I-beam.
• The rotating rolls perform two main functions: (1) Pull the work into
the gap between them by friction between work part and rolls;
(2) Simultaneously squeeze the work to reduce cross section.
• Most rolling processes are very capital intensive, requiring massive
pieces of equipment, called rolling mills, to perform them.
• Blooms are rolled into structural shapes like rails for railroad tracks.
• Billets are rolled into bars, rods. They become raw materials for
machining, wire drawing, forging, extrusion etc.
• Slabs are rolled into plates, sheets, and strips. Hot rolled plates are
generally used in shipbuilding, bridges, boilers, welded structures for
various heavy machines, and many other products.
 Types of Rolling

• By geometry of work:
➢ Flat rolling - used to reduce thickness of a rectangular
cross-section
➢ Shape rolling - a square cross-section is formed into a
shape such as an I-beam

• By temperature of work:
➢ Hot Rolling –most common due to the large amount of
deformation required
➢ Cold rolling –produces finished sheet and plate stock
 Roll Configurations

Two-high rolling mills: rolls in these mills have diameters in the range 0.6 to 1.4 m
Roll-work contact length is reduced with a lower roll radius, and this leads
to lower forces, torque, and power.

Roll Configurations
 Roll Configurations

Thread and ring rolling

Faster production, (1) better material utilization, (2) stronger threads due to work
hardening, (3) smoother surface, and (4) better fatigue resistance due to compressive
stresses introduced by rolling.

roller bearing races, steel tires for railroad wheels, and rings for pipes, pressure
vessels, and rotating machinery – more complex shapes. Adv. – raw material
savings, ideal grain orientation for the application, and strengthening through 10 cold
working.
 Roll process Analysis

Roll Analysis

(Conservation of material) (Continuity of volume flow rate)

Roll Analysis

Roll Analysis
Roll Analysis
Roll Analysis

Roll Analysis
 Roll Bite Condition

▪ If 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜽 > 𝝁, the workpiece cannot be drawn.

▪ If 𝝁 = 𝟎, rolling cannot occur.

Example 1:

Solution:
Example2:
Example 3:

Wire Drawing Process

Bar drawing - large diameter

bar and rod stock, single Advantages of drawing
draft, batch operation (1) close dimensional control,
wire drawing - small diameter (2) Good surface finish,
stock (size to 0.03 mm), (3) improved strength and hardness,
continuous drawing, and
several 100s of meters (4) adaptability to economical batch
-Usually cold working or mass production.
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 Drawing speeds are as
high as 50 m/s (10,000
ft/min) for very fine
wire. draw bench- bar drawing

Continuous drawing of wire

Preparation of work:
-annealing (increase ductility)
-cleaning (chemical pickling or
shot blasting)
-pointing (swagging, rolling,
turning)

Four regions of the die:

(1) entry region is usually a bell-shaped mouth that does not contact the work; its
purpose is to funnel the lubricant into the die and prevent scoring of work and die
surfaces.
(2) approach is where the drawing process occurs; it is cone-shaped with an angle
(half-angle) normally ranging from about 6° to 20°.
(3) bearing surface, or land, determines the size of the final drawn stock.
(4) back relief is the exit zone, which is provided with a back relief angle (half-angle)
of about 30°.

Draw dies are made of tool steels or cemented carbides.

Dies for high-speed wire drawing operations frequently use inserts made of
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diamond (both synthetic and natural) for the wear surfaces.
 Drawing mechanism
In drawing, the change in size of the work
is usually given by the area reduction:

r = area reduction in drawing A = original area of work, mm2

o A = final area, mm2
f

For rod drawing, wire drawing, Draft, d = Do − Df

D = original diameter of work, mm (in); and D = final work diameter, mm (in).

o f

If no friction or redundant work

occurred in drawing, true strain

The resulting stress would be:

Due to inhomogeneous deformation

and effect of friction, the actual stress
will be larger than the ideal value.
Thus draw stress is predicted using,

σd= draw stress, MPa; μ = die-work coefficient of friction;

α = die angle (half-angle)
ϕ is a factor that accounts for inhomogeneous deformation,

D = average diameter of work during

drawing, mm; and
Lc= contact length of the work with the
draw die

draw force is calculated as:

power required, P = F * exit velocity of the work

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 Wire is drawn through a draw die with entrance angle = 15°. Starting diameter
is 2.5 mm and final diameter = 2.0 mm. The coefficient of friction at the work–
die interface = 0.07. The metal has a strength coefficient K = 205 MPa and a
strain-hardening exponent n = 0.20. Determine the draw stress and draw force
in this operation.

D = 2.25 mm and Lc= 0.966 mm.

A = 4.91 mm2 and A = 3.14 mm2

o f

draw force is this stress multiplied by the

cross-sectional area of the exiting wire, F = 94.1(3.14) = 295.5 N

Maximum reduction per pass

As the reduction increases, draw stress increases. If the reduction is large
enough, draw stress will exceed the yield strength of the exiting metal.
Then drawn wire will simply elongate instead of new material being squeezed
through the die opening.
For wire drawing to be successful, maximum draw stress must be less than
the yield strength of the exiting metal.
Assume a perfectly plastic metal (n = 0), no friction, and no redundant
work. In this ideal case, Yf= Y, then,

i.e. 𝜀𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1

For this condition, 𝐴𝑜 Τ𝐴𝑓 = 1Τ(1 − 𝑟) must be equal to log to base e

 𝐴𝑜 Τ𝐴𝑓 =e=2.7183
 Max. reduction possible, rmax=(e-1)/e=0.632
In practice, 0.5 for single draft bar and 0.3 for multiple draft wire drawing
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Tube drawing: to reduce the diameter or wall thickness of seamless tubes and pipes
tube sinking

Thank you
 Extrusion
dates from around 1800

Direct extrusion
Advantages:
(1) A variety of shapes are possible (hot
extrusion)
(2) Enhanced grain structure and strength
properties (cold and warm extrusion)
(3) fairly close tolerances are possible (cold
extrusion)
(4) little wastage of material.
Limitation:
The cross section of the extruded part must be
uniform throughout its length.

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 3

Types of extrusion:
Direct extrusion and indirect extrusion.
Cold, warm, or hot extrusion.
Continuous process or a discrete process.

Indirect / backward / reverse extrusion

solid cross section hollow cross section

Limitations: lower rigidity of the hollow ram and the difficulty in supporting the
extruded product as it exits the die.

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 Mechanics of extrusion
Extrusion ratio, or reduction ratio

true strain in extrusion

Under ideal
deformation (no
friction and no
redundant work), the
pressure applied by the
ram to compress the
billet

Mechanics of extrusion
In actual extrusion, the effect of friction is to increase the strain experienced by
the metal. Therefore, Here, a = 0.8 and b = 1.2 to 1.5.

For direct extrusion, the effect of friction between the container walls and the
billet causes the ram pressure to be greater than for indirect extrusion.

p = additional pressure required to overcome friction

f

p = pressure of the billet against the container wall

c

In the worst case, sticking occurs at the container wall so that friction stress equals
the shear yield strength of the work metal:

Assumed that, then,

ram pressure for direct extrusion:

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 The ram pressure to perform indirect extrusion

A billet 75 mm long and 25 mm in diameter is to be extruded in a direct extrusion

operation with extrusion ratio r = 4.0. The extrudate has a round cross section.
x

The die angle (half-angle) = 90°. The work metal has a strength coeffi cient = 415
MPa, and strain-hardening exponent = 0.18. Use the Johnson formula with a = 0.8
and b = 1.5 to estimate extrusion strain. Determine the pressure applied to the
end of the billet as the ram moves forward.

L = 75 mm: With a die angle of 90°, the billet metal will be forced through the
die opening almost immediately; thus, the calculation assumes that maximum
pressure is reached at the billet length of 75 mm.
For die angles less than 90°, the pressure would build to a maximum as the
starting billet is squeezed into the cone-shaped portion of the extrusion die.

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 L = 0: Zero length is a hypothetical value in direct extrusion. In reality, it is
impossible to squeeze all of the metal through the die opening.

This is also the value of ram pressure that would be associated with indirect
extrusion throughout most of the length of the billet.

Determine the true strain rate in extruding a round billet of radius

r0 as a function of distance x from the entry of a conical die.

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Force in hot extrusion average true-strain rate

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Self study

--Impact (cold) extrusion and hydrostatic extrusion

--defects in extrusion
--defects in wire/rod drawing process

Thank you