Work roll thermal contour prediction model of nonoriented electrical steel sheets in hot strip mills

The demands for profile and flatness of nonoriented electrical steels are becoming more and more severe. The temperature field and thermal contour of work rolls are the key factors that affect the profile and flatness control in the finishing trains of the hot rolling. A theoretic mathematical model was built by a two-dimensional finite difference to calculate the temperature field and thermal contour at any time within the entire rolling campaign in the hot rolling process. To improve the calculating speed and precision, some special solutions were introduced, including the development of this model, the simplification of boundary conditions, the computation of heat transfer coefficient, and the narrower mesh along the edge of the strip. The effects of rolling pace and work roll shifting on the temperature field and thermal contour of work rolls in the hot rolling process were demonstrated. The calculated results of the prediction model are in good agreement with the measured ones and can be applied to guiding profile and flatness control of nonoriented electrical steel sheets in hot strip mills.