Influence of snake rolling on metal flow in hot rolling of aluminum alloy thick plate

Abstract

Most asymmetrical rolling conditions should not appear in regular rolling processes, but for obtaining large deformations inside aluminium alloy thick plates, the asymmetrical rolling process is the most effective method. Snake rolling is adopted for promoting more deformation inside the plates. For exploring the deformation inside an aluminium alloy thick plate, a finite element model for simulating the process of snake rolling is established and the key influence factors are set as initial thickness, speed ratio and offset distance. The results show that deformation inside of the plate increases obviously while the thickness of plate is less than 300 mm after snake rolling. The speed ratio has a positive effect on promoting deformation partly inside of the plate. On the contrary, the offset distance has a negative influence by affecting the exit thickness. A formula for calculating the exit thickness after snake rolling is proposed and validated by data from the finite element models. Thus, snake rolling is suggested to be used in the downstream pass of hot rough rolling considering that the influence of thickness and the offset distance should be controlled in a reasonable range.