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Abstract
Three-dimensional metal particle flow simulation during the whole rolling process for 60 kg/m heavy rail was accom-
plished by explicit dynamic finite element method and modified updating geometric method. A finite element model,
physical parameters of U71Mn, and parameter setting of simulation were introduced in detail. The metal flow rules of
typical metal particles in rolled stock cross-section during the whole heavy rail rolling were obtained. Meanwhile, the
continuous casting slab with artificial surface cracks, referred to as ‘‘circle’’ holes, was rolled in actual production line of
Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Company. The finite element method calculated results of cross-sectional metal particles
for U71Mn heavy rail are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is shown that the explicit dynamic finite ele-
ment method and modified updating geometric method can be used effectively to analyze the metal particle flow during
the whole heavy rail rolling process.
Keywords
Particle flow, modified updating geometric method, finite element method, heavy rail, U71Mn
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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
FEM and updating geometric method was used by Yu continuous casting slab with artificial surface defects,
et al.6 to investigate slab deformation behavior during referred to as ‘‘circle’’ holes, was rolled in actual pro-
the multi-pass vertical-horizontal (V-H) rolling process. duction line of Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group)
M Glowacki7,8 and Guerrero et al.9 used generalized Company. The FEM calculated results of cross-section
plane-strain method and two-dimensional (2D) finite were compared with the experimental findings.
element formulation to simulate the rolling process of
rail and shape steel in order to predict the metal flow
and heat transfer and analyze the roll-pass design. A Heavy rail rolling process
three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of U75V
heavy rail in UF finishing rolling of universal rail roll- Figure 1 shows the cross-sectional schematic diagram of
ing line was established by Tan and Jia10 to study the heavy rail. The up and down is the height direction of
characteristics of metal flow and deformation of the heavy rail, while the left and right is the width direction
U75V rolled stock in the X and Y direction. Pei et al.1 of heavy rail. The direction perpendicular to cross-section
built a 3D thermo-mechanical coupled model of the of heavy rail is the length direction. The corner radii R1
whole rolling process for 60 kg/m heavy rail by and R3 are equal to the R2 and R4 in value, respectively.
ANSYS/LS-DYNA software and analyzed workpiece Continuous casting slabs with the dimension of 7950 mm
deformation, metal flow, stress and strain, temperature, 3 380 mm 3 280 mm are adopted as billets (U71Mn)
and rolling force. whose main chemical composition is C 0.71, Si 0.25, Mn
All these studies and the literatures above mentioned 1.30, S 0.013, and P 0.019 in wt%.11–15 In the heavy rail
provide valuable information; however, they mainly rolling process, continuous casting slabs are charged into
focused on stress, strain, heat transfer, and geometrical the furnace for reheating and then discharged at a tem-
shape of rolled stock and so on during the rolling. perature of 1240°C. In order to clear off the scale layer
There is rare research on metal flow or movement formed during the continuous casting and reheating peri-
behavior of rolled stock during the whole hot rolling ods, the billet at first passes through the scale cleaning
process for 60 kg/m heavy rail, especially for tracing unit that applies water with 220 bar pressure, then goes
the metal particle of rolled stock during the whole through the BD1 unit where the symmetric rolling is car-
heavy rail rolling process. ried out, and box grooves are used, next through the
In this article, 3D metal particle flow behavior of the BD2 unit where the asymmetric rolling is conducted, and
whole rolling process for 60 kg/m heavy rail was simu- grooves (calibers) of varying geometrical shapes are
lated by explicit dynamic finite element software LS- used,16 and finally through the universal rolling unit
DYNA and modified updating geometric method. which comprises of three stands, that is, universal rough-
Moreover, the metal particle flow regularity of cross- ing rolling mill (UR), edger roughing mill (ER)/edger fin-
section of 60 kg/m U71Mn heavy rail during the whole ishing rolling mill (EF), and universal finishing rolling
rolling process was analyzed. At the same time, the mill (UF).
Figure 3. Roll distribution drawing of BD2 unit for 60 kg/m heavy rail.
Figure 4. Schematic views of heavy rail rolling in universal rolling unit: (a) UR1, UR2, and UR3; (b) ER; (c) EF; and (d) UF.
Figure 2 shows the schematic drawing of heavy rail in Figure 4. Table 1 lists the rolling schedule table of
rolling process. There are five passes in BD1, five passes 60 kg/m heavy rail.
in BD2, and six passes in universal unit. The grooves of
BD1 unit are symmetric box grooves, while groove of
Experimental materials and procedures
each pass in BD2 and universal unit is the section
groove. Figure 3 shows the roll distribution drawing of In order to trail the metal particle of rolled stock, artifi-
BD2 unit for 60 kg/m heavy rail. The schematic views cial round holes with a dimension of j12 mm 3 20 mm
of heavy rail rolling in universal rolling unit are given were drilled in the trial billet which was the dimension
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Unit Pass Groove Dimension, mm 3 mm Rolling reduction, mm Roll gap, mm Angular velocity of roll, rad/s
Figure 5. Topography of round hole drilled in the trial billet: (a) original photo and (b) magnification photo.
of 5000 mm (length) 3 280 mm (thickness) 3 380 mm round holes was oxidized in the process of reheating in
(width). The flow behavior of metal particle on the sur- furnace, so a large number of round holes were very
face of rolled stock can be represented by artificial difficult to heal by rolling reduction due to hard and
round hole because of the little dimension of round brittle oxide scale, and appeared in the form of black
hole and large rolling reduction during the heavy rail oxide scale.
rolling. Topography of round hole drilled in the trial
billet is shown in Figure 5. Figures 6 and 7 show the
wireframe and shade figures of the locations of round Basic theory
holes in the trial billet before numerical and physical
The basic equation of explicit dynamic analysis is
simulation, respectively.
In this study, the artificial round holes changed into
long black lines on the surface of heavy rail finished M u +Cu +F =R ð1Þ
product after whole rolling. The locations of black lines
where M is the mass matrix, C is the damping matrix,
were measured by ruler and human eyes. Table 2 shows
F is the vector of inner force, R is the vector of outer
the photos of black lines founded in the heavy rail final
loads, u is the nodes’ velocity, and u is the nodes’
products after 16 passes rolling. The locations of round
acceleration. Based on the central difference method, u
holes before and after rolling are shown in Figure 8.
and u can be expressed as
Due to large coefficient of elongation in the length or
rolling direction, artificial round holes were elongated 1
in the length direction after rolling and appeared in the u= (un + 1 un1 ) ð2Þ
2Dt
form of long lines. At the same time, the surface of
Pan et al. 5
Figure 6. Wireframe figure of the locations of round holes drilled in the trial billet before rolling.
Figure 7. Shade figure of the locations of round holes drilled in the trial billet before rolling.
s = AeB e_C exp (D=T ) ð6Þ stock. The strain rate e_ is different during the whole
heavy rail rolling, so each rolling simulation time cell
where A, B, C, D are constant. A, B, C, and D are adopted stress–strain curve with eight kinds of tempera-
5.103, 0.266, 0.116, and 4.464, respectively, according tures at a certain strain rate according to actual produc-
to thermal simulation test results of U71Mn using tion line. The yield stress and tangent modulus under
Gleeble-1500 thermal simulation experiment. The different temperatures could be determined by 0.2%
bilinear isotropic hardening material model (Figure 9) residual plastic strain and tangent method, respectively.
related to temperature was employed for the rolled The rolls were considered as rigid because rolling
Pan et al. 7
Figure 10. Physical parameters of U71Mn with temperature: (a) specific heat and (b) thermal conductivity.
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 12. FEM of rolls in BD2 unit: (a) Groove E, (b) Groove D, (c) Groove C, (d) Groove B, and (e) Groove A.
Figure 13. FEM of rolls in universal unit: (a) UR1, UR2, and UR3; (b) ER; (c) EF; and (d) UF.
Table 3. Simulation time cells of the whole rolling process for 60 kg/m heavy rail.
Time cell 1 2 3 4 5 6
Figure 15. Finite element model of rolled stock after No. 1 time cell: (a) 1/4 model and (b) full size model.
10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 17. Groove filling results of (a) No. 1 pass, (b) No. 2 pass, (c) No. 3 pass, (d) No. 4 pass, and (e) No. 5 pass in BD1 unit.
Figure 18. Groove filling results of (a) No. 6 pass, (b) No. 7 pass, (c) No. 8 pass, (d) No. 9 pass, and (e) No. 10 pass.
side of groove than that on the right side, the metal the right side of groove. The filling of No. 7 pass groove
from rolling reduction direction is easier to flow to the is good because of the symmetrical profile of groove.
left side of groove, which leads to slightly not full on The groove profile of No. 8 pass has a big change, that
Pan et al. 11
Figure 19. Groove filling results of (a) No. 11 pass, (b) No. 12 pass, (c) No. 13 pass, (d) No. 14 pass, (e) No. 15 pass, and (f) No.
16 pass.
Figure 21. 3D metal particle positions of (a) No. 1 pass, (b) No. 2 pass, (c) No. 3 pass, (d) No. 4 pass, and (e) No. 5 pass in BD1
unit.
Figure 22. 3D metal particle positions of (a) No. 6 pass, (b) No. 7 pass, (c) No. 8 pass, (d) No. 9 pass, and (e) No. 10 pass.
Figure 23. 3D metal particle positions of (a) No. 11 pass, (b) No. 12 pass, (c) No. 13 pass, (d) No. 14 pass, (e) No. 15 pass, and (f)
No. 16 pass.
Pan et al. 13
Figure 24. Position map of typical points: (a) plane and (b) spatial.
Figure 25. Positions of typical points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 1 pass, (b) No. 2 pass, (c) No. 3 pass, (d) No. 4
pass, and (e) No. 5 pass rolling in BD1 unit.
universal unit are more serious than those in BD2 unit, side surface of rail head by turn over spread because of
as shown in Figure 23. large amount of rolling reduction. Points e and g basi-
In order to track the flow behavior of metal parti- cally stay in the middle of edges of rolled stock cross-
cles of rolled stock cross-section in the whole rolling section due to basic horizontally symmetrical groove in
process, some typical points of rolled stock cross- BD2 unit. Points h and f move to the left of rolled stock
section are selected as shown in Figure 24. Points a, height midpoint, that is, rail base of heavy rail because
b, c, and d are located in the corner of cross-section rolling reduction at points h and f is the largest, and the
of continuous casting slab; points e, f, g, and h are the flow resistance of rail base is smaller than that of rail
midpoints of edges; and point i is the geometric center head. Point i is the same as the points h and f. At the
point. same time, the grooves of No. 6, No. 8, and No. 9 are
Figure 25 shows the positions of typical points of not completely horizontal symmetry, which lead to
rolled stock cross-section in BD1 unit. From Figure 25, closer distance from rail base for point h than that for
it is obvious that the positions of typical points of rolled point f.
stock cross-section have not changed basically on the Figure 27 shows the positions of typical points of
relative position, just have changed on absolute posi- rolled stock cross-section in universal unit. From
tion because of symmetrical box grooves in BD1 unit. Figure 27, the horizontal distances between point h and
Figure 26 shows the positions of typical points of point f become more and more big. At the same time,
rolled stock cross-section in BD2 unit. Points a and b points c and d are getting closer and closer to border
are still in the corner of rolled stock because points a between side surface and bottom surface of rail head.
and b are on the side surface of rail base where little Compared with BD2 unit, other points are almost not
rolling reduction happens. Points c and d move to the change.
14 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 26. Positions of typical points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 6 pass, (b) No. 7 pass, (c) No. 8 pass, (d) No. 9
pass, and (e) No. 10 pass rolling.
Figure 27. Positions of typical points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 11 pass, (b) No. 12 pass, (c) No. 13 pass, (d) No.
14 pass, (e) No. 15 pass, and (f) No. 16 pass rolling.
Pan et al. 15
Figure 28. Positions of artificial round holes in FEM of continuous casting slab.
Verification of experimental points deformation in the width direction of heavy rail during
the last pass rolling (No. 16 pass), the height error is
Figure 28 shows the positions of artificial round roles
smaller than the width error.
in FEM of continuous casting slab. The experimental
points 540, 1064, 1069, 1074, 1079, 1085, 1090, 1095,
1100, and 1105 shown in Figure 28 are representative
Conclusion
of artificial round holes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in
experimental rolling, respectively.
Figures 29–31 show the positions of 10 experimen- 1. A 3D finite element model of whole heavy rail
tal points of rolled stock cross-section in BD1, BD2, rolling for 60 kg/m heavy rail was built using
and universal unit, respectively. From Figures 29–31, explicit dynamic software and modified updat-
we can track the positions of 10 experimental points ing geometric method.
in the whole heavy rail rolling and find out their flow 2. The groove filling of each pass in BD1, BD2,
rules. and universal unit was simulated. The groove
Figure 32 shows the experimental and simulation filling of BD1 unit is good, and the cross-section
results of the positions of 10 experimental points in the of rolled stock is prone to double drum shape.
continuous casting slab and heavy rail final product. The metal easily flows to position of small roll
From Figure 32(a), the rectangle with rounded corners diameter in BD2 unit, and the position of large
represents the cross-section of continuous casting slab. roll diameter and small arc has a slightly worse
Points 1–10 on the side of the rectangle and heavy rail filling result. In universal rolling unit, grooves
final product profile are on behalf of the positions of UR and UF fill well, and grooves ER and EF
artificial round roles in the continuous casting slab and are underfilled in the height direction of heavy
heavy rail final product. The simulation results are in rail, especially for rail head part because grooves
good agreement with the experimental results by the ER and EF mainly control the width of heavy
naked eye. rail rather than height.
Figure 33 shows the experimental and simulation 3. 3D metal particle positions of each pass in BD1,
values of the positions of 10 experimental points in the BD2, and universal unit were studied. The posi-
heavy rail final product. From Figure 33, the simula- tions of metal particles of BD1 unit are basically
tion values are in good agreement with the experimen- in a plane, and the cross-section of rolled stock
tal values. Because the metal at the rail base is free is mainly rectangular. In BD2 and universal
16 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 29. Positions of 10 experimental points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 1 pass, (b) No. 2 pass, (c) No. 3 pass, (d)
No. 4 pass, and (e) No. 5 pass rolling in BD1 unit.
Figure 30. Positions of 10 experimental points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 6 pass, (b) No. 7 pass, (c) No. 8 pass, (d)
No. 9 pass, and (e) No. 10 pass rolling.
Pan et al. 17
Figure 31. Positions of 10 experimental points of rolled stock cross-section after (a) No. 11 pass, (b) No. 12 pass, (c) No. 13 pass,
(d) No. 14 pass, (e) No. 15 pass, and (f) No. 16 pass rolling.
Figure 32. Positions of experimental points in the heavy rail final product: (a) experimental results and (b) simulation results.
unit, the positions of metal particles appear rolled stock cross-section in BD1 unit have not
3D status. Spatial features of metal particles of changed basically on the relative position. In
rail waist are the most serious, and the metal BD2 unit, points c and d move to the side sur-
particles of rail base have the minimum plastic face of rail head by turn over spread, and points
strain. h, f, and i move to rail base. In universal unit,
4. The flow rules of typical points of rolled stock the horizontal distances between point h and
cross-section in BD1, BD2, and universal unit point f become more and more big, and points c
were studied. The positions of typical points of and d are getting closer and closer to border
18 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 33. Experimental and simulation values of the positions of 10 experimental points in the heavy rail final product.
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