Research on the behavior of transversal crack in slab V–H rolling process by FEM

Cracks appear on slab corner which is an important quality problem in some steel works. The closure and growth of transversal crack on slab corner during multi-pass vertical–horizontal (V–H) rolling was simulated with the explicit dynamic finite element method (FEM) and the updating geometric method. The influences of the friction coefficient, the crack size, the edger roll shape, and the fillet radius of grooved edger roll on the closure and growth of cracks were analyzed with the crack width and the contact pressure on crack surfaces. For vertical rolling, the contact pressure on crack surfaces when the grooved edger roll is used is larger than that when the flat edger roll is used. However, after horizontal rolling, the cracks open again when using the grooved edger roll, which may close well when using the flat edger roll. With increase of the fillet radii of the grooved edger roll, the contact pressure on crack surfaces increases during V1 pass and decreases during V2, V3 pass. Reduction of the friction coefficient between the slab and the rolls is helpful for the crack closure for both the flat edger roll and the grooved edger roll during vertical rolling. The experiments were performed for the behavior of transversal crack on the pure lead slab corner, and the calculated results have the same tendency of the crack behavior as the experimental ones.