Behavior of porosity in billet during rolling process of rail

Abstract

Unlike traditional rolling processes, reduction of rolling process of rail is along two vertical directions and the broadening of rolled piece is controlled. In this study, industrial experiments and a simulation model of the rolling process of rail were conducted to investigate the behaviors of porosities in billet during the rolling process of rail. The experimental and simulated results revealed that porosities moved toward the center on the cross section of the rolled piece and the porosities region reduced from a rectangle with the size (76.7 × 93.3 mm) to an isosceles trapezoid with the size {(12.8 + 18.5 mm) × 47.2 mm} during the rolling process of rail. The shapes of the porosities changed from circles with the diameters smaller than 6 mm to short cracks with the lengths shorter than 10 mm on the cross section. The two vertical reduction directions and the controlled broadening of rolled piece both counted against the closure of porosity. The simulated results were mostly in agreement with the experimental results.