Roll wear evaluation of HSS, HiCr and IC work rolls in hot strip mill

While it is acknowledged that roll wear is one of the most challenges to hot strip mills (HSM), very few studies which detail an exact prediction model have been published. The aim of this work is to evaluate and compare two prediction models with measured roll wear. The first prediction model, model 1, developed for a plate mill, was modified to use in strip rolling process. The second prediction model, model 2, is a simplified on-line model. Data of two hot strip mills were used to investigate the influence of different rolling schedules. The rolls and strip properties were described and the rolling conditions were detailed. The influence of hot rolling factors, such as strip strength, roll grades, rolling temperature, rolling force, reduction and contact length, were also studied. When rolling with different work roll materials and strip grades, the modified prediction model has better prediction accuracy than the simplified model. The accuracy of both models becomes better at higher roll wear > 150 μm. HSS work rolls were confirmed to exhibit improvement of roll wear in comparison with HiCr rolls, the wear resistance was 3 to 4 times better. The influence of strip grade on roll wear was shown to be significant, with higher accuracy of the regression statistics for rolling with similar strip grades and lower regressed accuracy for rolling with mixed strip grades. The roll wear was evaluated at the centre of the barrel.