Looking for books on tandem rolling mill theory and operation...

P

Thread Starter

Peter

I'm a new software developer at an industrial automation contracting company. Our primary product is a rolling mill control systems, and I am eager to learn more about their principals of operation. I have a very old textbook on tandem rolling mill theory that I've started reading, but I'm curious if there are any newer offerings. Here's what I have at the moment:

Automation of Tandem Mills
Edited by G.F. Bryant
1973, The Iron and Steel Institute
1 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5DB

ISBN 0 900497 94 7
Printed in England by Lund Humphries, Bradford


I found a few books through Amazon, but I'm not sure which one would be the best introductory material...

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246020335&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Steel-rolling...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246020335&sr=1-2

Do you guys have any recommendations on newer texts that I should check out?

Thanks
--Peter
 
W

William Sturm

There is simply no better way to learn than to get out into the field. Volunteer to go on start-ups and service trips, talk with the customers, and see how they use their equipment. A book might have some value (or maybe not, who knows).

Bill Sturm
 
What aspect of a rolling mill are you trying to learn about. There is so much that goes on.... shape? thickness? steering? cleaning? calcs that go into the accumulators? trimming ? and then for what kind of product? sheet? tin? tension control? roll bite? roll force?
 
P

Peter Nachtwey

> There is simply no better way to learn than to get out into the field. Volunteer to go on start-ups and service trips, talk with the customers, <

Start-ups take forever and there is a lot of waiting around for everyone to get the act together. Visiting at the end of a start-up would be good but just visit. Be prepared for a two hour safety seminar and have the right boots, helmet, vest and jackets. Since it takes a lot to get 'safety' certified it will be hard to get someone to just let you just visit.

I have been on a few as subcontractor to the primary controls people and once hired directly and a couple times hired directly by the mill. There is simply too much time waiting compared to doing or learning.

A good video should be just as good.
 
Mike,

I agree, there's a huge number of factors that go into rolling. We deal almost exclusively with rolling aluminum sheet. We have done some work with foil, but I'm not sure if I can expect to see that.

The main problem is that I'm not sure where to really begin. I'd wager that it's a good idea to understand basic concepts like conservation of mass and the meaning of shape and flatness in a rolling context and the basic ways that it can be controlled. Then I'd probably learn the corresponding mathematical models and go from there.

Is there some kind of recommended order of study for this stuff?

Thanks guys!
 
Regarding books, there are two books by William Roberts you may also have come across: "Hot rolling of steel" and "Cold rolling of steel", both published by Midas Dekker (same as the Ginzburg books, and also expensive). Both deal with more general aspects of rolling than the pure flat-rolling Ginzburg books, e.g. also casting, rod and bar rolling and coiling. It depends what you are looking for. Otherwise, I am not familiar with any text books specifically on alumin(i)um rolling.

For more recent information on the theory and control of rolling processes, you are probably down to scientific journal publications and PhD theses, for example Julian Allwood's "Online modelling and control of shape phenomena in metal rolling", Imperial College (where Bryant also worked), London, 1993. Your own company may have its own, usually jealously guarded, models and expertise of the rolling process.

To get started on rolling technology in general, you could also consider attending a training course. These are generally a week long. My company, ISC/ACTC, runs a series of courses together with Converteam. The next course, this time purely organised by Converteam, will be held in India on 9-12 November:

http://www.rolling-academy.com/index.php

A few other companies run similar courses. If you are interested in aluminium in particular, you could contact Innoval (formerly a part of Alcan):

http://www.innovaltec.com
http://www.innovaltec.com/downloads/Innoval Rolling Course Leaflet.pdf

If you want to discuss anything offline in more detail than suitable for the list, please contact me at gerrit[at]isc-ltd.com.

Best regards,
Gerrit.
 
Top