CHAPTER 3:

FORMING AND
SHAPING PROCESSES
 MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Manufacturing
processes
Assembly Processing
operations operations

Permanent Property
Mechanical Surface Shaping
joining Enhancing
fastening Technology processes
processes processes

Cleaning &
Threaded Heat Solidification
Welding surface
fasteners treatment processes
treatments

Permanent Coating &

Brazing &
Fastening deposition Material Removal
soldering
methods processes

Adhesive Deformation
bonding processes

Particulate
processing
ROLLING OF METALS

Introduction
Flat rolling
Flat-rolling practice
Rolling mills
Shape-rolling operations
Production of seamless tubing and pipe
Continuous casting and rolling
 INTRODUCTION
 Rolling – process of reducing the thickness or changing the cross section of
a long work piece by compressive forces applied through a set of rolls.
 Carried out at elevated temperature (hot rolling) and room temperature
(cold rolling)

••Plates
Plates––having
havingthickness
thicknessgreater
greaterthan
than6mm
6mm
(for
(forship
shiphulls,
hulls,boilers,
boilers,bridges,
bridges,machinery
machinery&&nuclear
nuclearvessel
vessel
••Sheets
Sheets––generally
generallyless
lessthan
than6mm
6mmthick
thick
(provided
(providedto tomanufacturing
manufacturingfacilities
facilitiesas
ascoils
coilsor
oras
asflat
flatsheets
sheetsfor
for
Aircraft
Aircraftbodies,
bodies,appliances,
appliances,kitchen
kitchenequipment)
equipment)
 FLAT ROLLING
• A metal strip of thickness h0 enters the roll gap and is reduced to thickness hf by a pair of rotating rolls
• Velocity of the strip increases as it passes through the roll gap (vf > vo)
• Roll’s surface velocity is constant
• There is relative sliding between the roll and strip
• At neutral point or no-slip point, velocity of the strip is the same as the roll
 To the left of this point, the roll moves faster than the strip; to the right of this point, the strip moves
faster than the roll
• The rolls pull the material into the roll gap through a net frictional force on the material
• Increasing friction will increases rolling forces and power requirements; and could damage the surface
of the rolled product (cause sticking)
 Use effective lubricant
• Relation between the roll radius, R and the coefficient of friction, µ between the strip and the roll:

Max Draft ; h0-hf = µ2R

• Draft (ho – hf) : the difference between the initial and final strip thicknesses
(a) Schematic illustration of the flat-rolling process. (b) Friction forces acting on strip surfaces. (c) Roll
force, F, and torque, T, acting on the rolls. The width of the strip, w, usually increases during rolling.
Flat Rolling Process
 Roll Arrangements
• Roll forces can cause deflection

• Type of roll arrangements:

a) 2-high: hot rolling in initial passes
b) 3-high @ reversing: repeated, successive
passes on opposite direction
c) 4-high and cluster: small diameter rolls
decrease the roll forces (smaller roll-strip
contact area)  decrease power
requirements and reduce spreading (increase
in width)
d) Tandem rolling: strip is rolled continuously
through a number of stands to thinner gages
with each pass

• Small rolls: cheaper to replace: but deflect

more  support by large-diameter rolls

• Roll materials: cast iron, cast steel, forged Schematic illustration of various roll arrangements: (a) Two-high mill; if a two-high mill is used for
thick but short workpieces, it will commonly roll a billet back and forth in multiple passes, known as a
steel (higher cost, strength, stiffness and reversing mill. (b) Three-high mill with elevator for multiple passes. (c) Four-high rolling mill
toughness than cast iron) showing various features; the stiffness of the housing, the rolls, and the roll bearings are all important
in controlling and maintaining the thickness of the rolled strip. (d) Tandem rolling, with three stands.
tungsten carbide  small diameter rolls (e) Planetary mill, and (f) Cluster mill, also known as a Sendzimir or Z-mill.
 How to Reduce Roll Force?
1) Reducing friction at the roll-workpiece interface
2) Using smaller diameter rolls to reduce the contact area
3) Taking smaller reductions per pass to reduce the contact area
4) Rolling at elevated temperatures to lower the strength of the
material
5) Applying front and/or back tension tensions to the strip
 HOT ROLLING
The initial break down of an ingot or continuously cast
slab
Converts the cast structure to a wrought structure
 Finer grains As a result of breaking up of brittle grain boundaries
and the closing up of internal defects (especially
 Enhanced ductility porosity)
Reduction in defects

Changes in the grain structure of cast or of large-grain wrought metals during hot rolling. Hot rolling is
an effective way to reduce grain size in metals for improved strength and ductility; cast structures of
ingots or continuous casting are converted to a wrought structure by hot working.
 Product of the first hot-rolling operation
a) Bloom:
Square cross section of 150mm (6 in) on one side
• Processed further by shape rolling into I-beams or Railroad rails
b) Slab:
Rectangular in cross section
Rolled into plates and sheets
c) Billets
 Usually square, smaller than blooms and rolled into bars and rods

• In hot rolling, surface of the material usually is conditioned (prepared for

subsequent operation) prior to rolling them
 Done by means of a torch (scarfing) to remove heavy scale or by rough grinding to
smoothen surfaces
 Prior to cold rolling, the scale developed during hot rolling may be removed by
pickling with acids (acid etchings), blasting with water or by grinding to remove other
defects as well
 COLD ROLLING
• carried out at room temperature
 Produces sheet and strip metal
 Better surface finish – less scale
 Better dimensional tolerance
 Enhanced mechanical properties  because of strain
hardening)
 PACK ROLLING
• Two or more layers of metal are rolled together  improving productivity
• E.g: Aluminum foil
 Pack rolled in two layers – only the top and bottom outer layers have
been in contact with rolls
 One side of al. foil is matte, the other side is shiny
 Foil-to-foil side has a matte and satiny finish
 Foil-to-roll side is shiny and bright – it has been in contact under high
contact stresses with the polished rolls during rolling
Roller Levelling
• A rolled sheet may not be sufficiently flat as it leaves the roll gap – due to variation
in the incoming material or processing parameters during rolling
• Use series of leveling rolls to improve flatness
• Workpiece is flexed in opposite directions as is passes through a set of rollers
• Each roll driven separately by individual electric motor

(a) A method of roller leveling to flatten rolled sheets. (b) Roller leveling to straighten drawn rods.
Defects in Rolled Plates & Sheets
 Undesirable
 Degrade surface appearance
 Adversely affect the strength
 Surface metal defects include:
 Scale, Rust, Scratches, Gouges (curvy marks), Pits
(hole), & Cracks
 May be caused by impurities and inclusions in cast
ingots or during material preparation
a) Wavy edges
– result of roll bending
- strip is thinner along its edges than at its center; the edges elongate
more than the center

b) Zipper cracks - The result of poor material ductility at the rolling temperature
c) Edge cracks - Edge defects in rolled sheets often are removed by shearing & slitting
operation
d) Alligatoring
– cause by nonuniform bulk deformation of the billet during rolling or by
the presence of defects in the original cast material
 OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
a) Residual stresses
Cause by non-uniform deformation of material in the roll gap
Small diameter rolls or small thickness reductions per pass tend to
plastically deform the metal more at its surfaces than in the bulk
Compressive residual stresses on the surfaces
Tensile stresses in the middle
b) Tolerances
Cold-rolled sheets: (+/- ) 0.1mm – 0.35mm
Tolerances much greater for hot-rolled plates - due to thermal effects
c) Surface roughness
Cold rolling can produce a very fine surface finish
Hot rolling & sand casting have the same range of surface finish
d) Gauge numbers
• the thickness of a sheet is identified by a gauge number, such as ¼ hard,
½ hard, etc
• The smaller the number, the thicker the sheet
 Various Rolling Processes and Mills
a) SHAPE-ROLLING
Using specially designed rolls, various shapes can be
produced by shape rolling
Solid Bars, Channels, I-beams, Railroad rails
Cold shape rolling can be done with the starting
materials in the shape of wire with various cross sections
Since the material’s cross section reduced non-
uniformly, the Roll-pass design requires considerable
experience in order to avoid external and internal
defects, hold dimensional tolerance and reduce roll wear
Steps in the shape rolling of an I-beam. Various other structural sections,
such as channels and rails, also are rolled by this process.
 b) RING ROLLING
 A thick ring is expanded into a large diameter thinner ring
The ring blank is placed between the two rolls
One of which is driven, other is idle
The thickness is reduced by bringing the rolls together
 Volume of the ring remains constant, the reduction in ring
thickness results in an increase in its diameter
 The ring shaped blank may be produced by:
Cutting from plate
Piercing
Cutting from a thick walled pipe
 Typical applications of ring rolling:
Large rings for rockets & tubine
Gearwheel rims
Ball-bearing
Advantages : short production time; materials saving; close
dimensional tolerances; favorable grain flow in the product
enhance the strength
 c) THREAD ROLLING
Cold-forming process
Straight or tapered threads are formed on round rods by passing the
pipe though dies
Typical products include
 Screws; Bolts; various gear forms, threaded fasteners
Threads are rolled in the soft condition
Threads may then be heat treated, and subjected to final machining
or grinding
Advantages: generating thread with good strength (due to cold
working) and without any loss of material; good surface finish; induce
compressive residual stresses on the surface  improve fatigue life

Reciprocating flat dies Two roller dies

Thread-rolling processes: (a) reciprocating flat dies used to produce a threaded fastener; (b) two-roll
dies; (c) rotary or planetary die set; and (d) a collection of thread-rolled parts made economically at
high production rates. Source: (d) courtesy of Tesker Manufacturing Corp., Saukville, Wisconsin.
 Continuous Casting & Rolling :
Integrated Mills & Minimills
Continuous casting
• Advantages
• Highly automated
• Reduces product cost
• Companies are converting over to this type of casting
Integrated Mills
• Large facilities that involve complete integration of activities - from the
production of hot metal to the casting and rolling of the finished product

Minimills
 Process :
a) Scrap metal (from old machinery, cars & farm equipment) is melted in
electric arc furnaces
b) Cast continuously
c) Rolled directly into specific lines of products
Each minimill produces one kind of rolled product from basically one
type of metal or alloy
Rod; Bar; Structural steel
Advantages : low-investment optimal operations for each type of metal
& product line; low labor and energy costs
THE END