Antoine Stephany

MetaLub – a slab method software for the numerical simulation of mixed lubrication regime in cold strip rolling

A cold-rolling model taking into account mixed lubrication regime has been developed and included into a simulation software named MetaLub. The main objective is to enhance the performances of rolling mills from a lubrication point of view. It means that lubricant rheology but also roll diameters and roughness, etc. can be optimized to improve stability and efficiency of the rolling tool. The main features of MetaLub are briefly presented in this article. Then, two studies of the influence of rolling speed and negative forward slip are discussed. The obtained numerical results are presented and compared to some experimental data from literature and from ArcelorMittal facilities in order to validate the model and to show its capacity to understand and help to improve industrial rolling conditions.

Improvement of an Iterative and Staggered Approach for a Model of Mixed‐Lubrication in Cold Rolling

Modelling of cold rolling process is an interesting tool to optimize a mill configuration : diameter and roughness of the cylinders, rolling diagrams, lubricant viscosity…Built from two existing “Wilson” type models for mixed‐lubrication of cold rolling, a new model preserves their advantages : sound physical modelling and robust iterative and staggered numerical approach. Two theoretical improvements applied to this model allow a more broad field of applications. The main innovation consists in applying the radial return method, well‐know in the field of the finite element method for time integration of the viscoplasticity law, to the slab method. Some numerical results will illustrate both enhancements.