Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2015, Vol. 7(7) 1–13
Ó The Author(s) 2015
A simulation study on the multi-pass DOI: 10.1177/1687814015594313
aime.sagepub.com
rolling bond of 316L/Q345R stainless
clad plate

Qin Qin, Dao-tong Zhang, Yong Zang and Ben Guan

Abstract
This article describes an investigation into interface bonding research of 316L/Q345R stainless clad plate. A three-
dimensional thermal–elastic–plastic model has been established using finite element analysis to model the multi-pass hot
rolling process. Results of the model have been compared with those obtained from a rolling experiment of stainless clad
plate. The comparisons of temperature and profile of the rolled stainless clad plate have indicated a satisfactory accuracy
of finite element analysis simulation. Effects on interface bonding by different parameters including pre-heating tempera-
ture, multi-pass thickness reduction rules, rolling speed, covering rate, and different assemble patterns were analyzed
systematically. The results show that higher temperature and larger thickness reduction are beneficial to achieve the
bonding in vacuum hot rolling process. The critical reduction in the bond at the temperature of 1200 °C is 28%, and the
critical thickness reduction reduces by about 2% when the temperature increases by 50 °C during the range from
1000 °C to 1250 °C. And the relationship between the minimum pass number and thickness reduction has been sug-
gested. The results also indicate that large covering rate in the assemble pattern of outer soft and inner hard is beneficial
to achieve the bond of stainless clad plate.

Keywords
Layered structures, mechanical properties, finite element analysis, critical reduction, interface bonding

Date received: 3 April 2015; accepted: 5 June 2015

Academic Editor: Jianqiao Ye

Introduction adopted by some researchers because it can credibly

The stainless clad plate is a kind of layered structures
generally made by bonding a stainless steel plate to
another metal such as carbon steel or low-alloy steel
plate. It has been widely used in petroleum, chemical,
ship building, metallurgy, power generation, and other
daily necessities because of its ideal combination of
mechanical, physical, and corrosion properties, and the
advantage over common engineering materials at
price.1,2 Roll bonding is the most economic and produc-
tive manufacturing process for the production of stain-
less clad plates.3 The bonding of the interface between
two metals has an important influence on the quality of
the clad plate.4 The experimental study has been
estimate the causal relationship. Mohamed and
Washburn5 investigated the mechanism of pressure
welding in polycrystalline aluminum, copper, silver,
and gold. The researches showed that there was no
metal-to-oxide bonding contributed to the strength of
the weld, and a two-stage model was suggested to
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Beijing, China
Corresponding author:
Qin Qin, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and
Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: qinqin@me.ustb.edu.cn

Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
explain the different behaviors of the metals studied.
Factors that affect the relative difficulty of pressure
welding were also discussed. These factors include
stacking fault energy of the metal, relative hardness of
the metal and its oxide film, and the mechanical proper-
ties of the oxide, surface roughness prior to welding.
Nezhad and Ardakani6 investigated the effects of pre-
heat temperatures and thickness reductions on the bond
strength by peeling test and metallographic examina-
tions. Manesh and Shahabi7 evaluated the bonding
strength of roll-bonded multilayer plates by defining
and measuring a relative bonding length parameter.
Jing et al.8 performed shearing and peeling tests to eval-
uate the bonding results. The interfacial microstruc-
tures, composition diffusion, and peeling fractographies
of the clad plate samples were adopted to examine the
bond quality. Both the shear strength and the peel
strength increase with increases in bonding temperature
and total reduction ratio. Multi-pass hot rolling gener-
ates a number of local embedment at the interface and
improves the interfacial bonding strength. Although
some results of specific process parameters on the bond-
ing strength were obtained, the experimental study was
time-consuming and laborious. The theoretical calcula-
tion method including analytical method and finite ele-
ment method (FEM) has been applied to solve this
problem. Although some results of specific process
parameters on the bonding strength were obtained, the
experimental study is time-consuming and laborious.
Tzou and colleagues9,10 obtained the stress field of cold
and hot bond rolling of unbounded sandwich plates by
formulating an analytical model of the cold bond roll-
ing of unbounded double-layer sheet. Hwang et al.11
analyzed the effects of various rolling conditions such
as total thickness reduction and initial thickness ratio
upon bonding factors such as the mean contact pressure
and bonding length by proposing an extended analyti-
cal model. However, the analytical calculation precision
has its limitation because there were some differences
between the actual conditions and the analytical model
that was simplified too much. Moreover, the three-
dimensional (3D) distribution of rolling pressure was
unavailable because plane strain assumption was
adopted in these models. Therefore, finite element anal-
ysis (FEA) has been adopted because of its powerful
computation ability in obtaining results of stress and
strain in the interface. Zhang and Yang12 built a two-
dimensional (2D) FEM model to predict bond results
based on a bond criterion for laminated composites.
Lin and colleagues13–15 established a 3D thermal–elas-
tic–plastic–coupled FEM model, and results containing
deformation, the equivalent strain, shear stress, residual
stress, and the rolling force were obtained. Zong and
Zhang,16 Dong and Wu,17 and Xu and Zhang18 deter-
mined the minimum relative reduction for perfect bond-
ing by the FEM simulation of single-pass roll bonding
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process. However, the researches mostly focused on the
bonding of single-pass rolling process, and investiga-
tions on the multi-pass hot roll bonding process have
not been investigated systematically.
In this article, a 3D thermo-mechanical-coupled
elastic–plastic model has been established to simulate
the multi-pass hot roll bonding process using FEA.
The simulation results have been compared with the
results of a rolling experiment of stainless clad plate to
verify this FEA model. Moreover, the model has been
adopted to analyze the effects of various rolling condi-
tions such as pre-heating temperature, multi-pass thick-
ness reduction rules, rolling speed, and assemble
patterns in the multi-pass hot rolling bonding process.
Establishment of 3D FEA model
Hypothesis and simplification
The hot roll bonding process of stainless clad plate
involves highly nonlinear behaviors including multiple
objects contact and complex thermo-mechanical cou-
pling problems. The contacts between the rollers and
the plate, the strake and the base layer, and the strake
and the clad layer have been considered in this model.
Some simplified methods had been adopted as follows:
1. A quarter model of the plate and the roller was
built because the symmetry of the heat transfer,
the plate structure, and the influence of gravity
were ignored.
2. The rollers were assumed to be the analytical
rigid bodies during the process of hot roll bond-
ing in order to reduce the solution time.
3. A thermal–elastic–plastic isotropic material
model was used.
The welding structure was considered and the quar-
ter simplified rolling model is shown in Figure 1.
Element type DC3D8RT was chosen to mesh the plate.
Interface between different layers shared the same
nodes, and there were a total of 74,749 elements in this
model.
The hot rolling bonding process was divided into
seven passes. Accordingly, the simulation of rolling
process was divided into seven modules. Results from
the former pass can be transferred to the input file of
next pass as initial conditions so that the simulation for
multi-pass rolling can run continuously.
Mechanical properties
Material of the base layer is carbon steel Q345R and
material of the clad layer is stainless steel 316L.
Accurate mechanical properties are vital to the reliable
FEA simulation. The mechanical tests of the
Qin et al.
Figure 1. Three-dimensional FEA model of rolling for stainless steel clad plate: (a) quarter rolling model and (b) quarter of the slab
lattice model.
experimental metal at different temperatures and strain
rates were measured using the Gleeble-3500 machine.
These typical flow stress curves are shown in Figure 2.
Thermal expansion coefficients of materials Q345R
and 316L were measured using DIL801 thermal dilat-
ometer. Other thermal properties including density,
thermal conductivity, specific heat, modulus of elasti-
city, and Poisson’s ratio were calculated using the
software JMatPro. Relationship between these thermo-
physical parameters and the temperature is shown in
Figure 3.
Boundary conditions and contact definition
1. The symmetrical displacement constraint was
applied to the symmetry area of the quarter
model.
2. Contact between the rollers and the plate was
considered in this model, and the penalty fric-
tion model was applied to simulate the contact.
The friction coefficient was defined as 0.3.19
3. The convective heat transfer coefficient of the
plate surface was defined as 10 W/(m2 K), and
the rate of emission of radiation was defined as
0.8.20
4. The temperature of the roller was assumed to
be a constant value of 300 °C, and the contact
heat transfer coefficient between the roller and
the plate was defined as 20 kW/(m2 °C).20
5. Plastic deformation work and friction heat were
the heat sources in the process of rolling. The
conversion rates of power and thermal were
defined as 0.9.20
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3
6. The angular velocity was applied to the driving
roller according to the rolling speed and radius
of the roller.
Bond criterion
The theory and practice of welding by pressure in a
broad sense were based on four classes of hypothesis:
the mechanical hypothesis, the energy-barrier hypoth-
esis, the diffusion-bonding hypothesis, and the joint-
recrystallization hypothesis.4 The descriptions of the
bonding mechanism according to these hypotheses
were various. No matter what the theory is, certain
energy must be needed to achieve the combination of
the metal. Namely, a certain normal pressure and a
threshold deformation must be achieved. Two typical
bond criteria were proposed. The first one was that a
strong bond is made between two plates when the
deformation during the rolling exceeds the threshold
for welding.13 However, the exact threshold strain is
usually difficult to be determined, especially for multi-
pass rolling bonding of thick stainless clad steel plate.
The second one was the bond criterion of stress.14–16
Metals could be bonded as both materials being plastic
stage and the normal pressure in the interface being up
to or larger than the deformation resistance of harder
layer material. Therefore, this criterion was adopted in
this article because the normal stress and the flow stress
of the interface at certain temperature and strain rate
could be determined.
Pressure distribution
The normal stress distribution of the interface in the
first four passes is shown in Figure 4 according to
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 2. Plastic true strain and stress curves of materials 316L and Q345R: (a) flow stress of 316L at strain rate = 0.1 s21, (b) flow
stress of Q345R at strain rate = 0.1 s21, (c) flow stress of 316L at strain rate = 1 s21, (d) flow stress of Q345R at strain rate = 1 s21,
(e) flow stress of 316L at strain rate = 10 s21, and (f) flow stress of Q345R at strain rate = 10 s21.

calculation results of layered structures. The stress
along the width direction was not uniform. Pressure at
the edge was less than that in the center. Taking the
example of pass one, normal stress at the edge was
about 50 MPa and the stress in the center was about
83 MPa. Stress near the edge was adopted to make sure
of the complete bonding.
Normal stress history of the interface in the first
four passes is shown in Figure 5. The maximum normal
stress of the interface in each rolling pass was 59.36,
71.32, 87.46, and 104.16 MPa, respectively. The maxi-
mum normal stress in the fourth pass was larger than
the flow stress of the material 316L, which was
90 MPa. It indicated that the value was lower than

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Qin et al. 5

3.0x10-5 8.0x103
Q345R
Q345R
316L
316L 7.8x103
2.4x10-5
Expansion efficient

Density, Kg.m-3
7.6x103
1.8x10-5
7.4x103

1.2x10-5
7.2x103

6.0x10-6 7.0x103
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Temperature, °C Temperature, °C

(a) (b)
2.5x10 11 5.0x10-1

Q345R Q345R
316L 316L
2.0x1011 4.5x10-1
Modulus of elasticity, Pa

Poisson s ratio

1.5x1011 4.0x10-1

1.0x1011 3.5x10-1

5.0x1010 3.0x10-1

0.0 2.5x10-1
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Temperature, °C Temperature, °C

(c) (d)
5x101 1.05x10 3

Q345R Q345R
316L 316L
1
4x10 9.00x10 2
Conductivity, W.S-1.K-1

Specific heat, J/Kg.K

3x101 7.50x102

2x101 6.00x102

1x101 4.50x102

0 3.00x102
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Temperature, °C Temperature, °C

(e) (d)

Figure 3. Thermo-physical parameters of materials 316L and Q345R: (a) thermal expansion coefficient, (b) density, (c) modulus of
elasticity, (d) Poisson’s ratio, (e) thermal conductivity, and (f) specific heat.

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6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 4. Normal stress distribution of the interface in the first four passes: (a) normal stress in pass one, (b) normal stress in pass
two, (c) normal stress in pass three, and (d) normal stress in pass four.
Figure 5. Normal stress history of the interface during hot
rolling.
90 MPa in the first three passes. Therefore, the bond
was not realized until the pass-four rolling process was
completed.
Finite element model validation
In order to verify this FEA model, a rolling experiment
of stainless clad plate was completed using a ˘
750 3 550 two-roller mill. Surface temperature during
the rolling process and profile of the clad plate after
rolling were measured and compared with the simu-
lated results.
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Rolling experiment
The stainless clad plate and carbon steel Q345R were
assembled symmetrically as AB–BA to avoid bending
caused by different deformation resistance of the layers
during the rolling process. The initial thickness of the
carbon steel layer was 85 mm and thickness of the stain-
less steel layer was 15 mm. The single-roller thickness
reduction during seven-pass hot roll bonding process
was 12.5, 12.5, 12.5, 12.5, 10, 8, and 7 mm, respectively.
The pre-heating temperature was 1200 °C and the roll-
ing speed was 1.1 m/s.
Temperature
The surface temperature of the plate during rolling pro-
cess was obtained using thermal imaging system. These
measured temperatures were compared with the calcu-
lation results of the FEA model. As shown in Figure 6,
the surface temperature dropped quickly in each pass
when the rollers were driven into the rolling zone
because lot of heat was absorbed by the roller. The tem-
perature increased quickly when the rollers left the
deformation zone because the heat was rapidly trans-
mitted from the center to the surface. Moreover, the
heat carried away by heat transfer conditions is larger
than the heat generated by plastic work in the first three
rolling passes. Therefore, the temperature of the surface
drops gradually. But the heat difference between the
two parts was relatively small after the third rolling
pass; the temperature change was also relatively small
and the temperature dropped a little after the third roll-
ing pass. The results of simulated temperature using
Qin et al. 7

FEA showed a satisfactory accordance with the mea-
sured temperature.
Deformation
The profile of the layered structures after cooling was
obtained using Handyscan 3D and is shown in Figure
7. There was a larger longitudinal extension in the cen-
ter of the plate than the edge. This ‘‘tongue’’ feature
was mainly caused by the large accumulative reduction
in thickness.
The measured profile schematic of rolled stainless
clad plate is shown in Figure 8, and the comparison
between measured profile and the simulated results is
shown in Table 1. The length of the plate increased by
about twice the initial length varying from 300 to
1200 mm, while the width increased from 300 mm to
about 340 mm. The initial thickness ratio of the base
layer and the clad layer was 85:15 and the value barely
changed during the hot roll bonding process. The simu-
lated deformation agreed well with the measured defor-
mation and the error rate was less than 5%. Therefore,
the 3D FEA model was considered reliable.

Effects of different process parameters on

the bonding
Rapid roll bonding process helps not only reduce the
Temperature, °C

energy consumption but also increase the range of dif-

ferent thickness specifications of the finished layered
structures. The effects on interface bonding of different
process parameters, including pre-heating temperature,
multi-pass thickness reduction rules, rolling speed, and
covering rate, were analyzed as follows.

Pre-heating temperature
The normal stress and flow stress under different pre-
heating temperatures and the thickness reduction of
Figure 6. Temperature history of the surface during hot rolling. 30% are shown in Figure 9. When the pre-heating

Figure 7. Contour of rolled stainless clad plate: (a) simulation and (b) experiment.

Table 1. Comparison of measured and simulated contour results.

Result L1 (mm) L2 (mm) B1 (mm) B2 (mm)

Test 970 1200 340 390

Simulation 956 1148 332 388
Error rate 1.4% 4.3% 2.4% 0.5%

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8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 8. Measured profile schematic of rolled stainless clad

plate.

Temperature, °C

Figure 10. Critical reduction in bonding at different

temperatures.

Temperature, °C

Figure 9. Normal stress and flow stress at different

temperatures.

temperature was 1000 °C, the normal stress in the inter-

face and the flow stress of the material 316L were 160.5
and 185.5 MPa, respectively. The value of normal stress
was less than the flow stress, which indicated that the
bond of two layers was not realized yet according to
the bond criterion of stress mentioned before. When Figure 11. Normal stress and flow stress at different
reductions.
the pre-heating temperature was increased to 1050 °C,
the value of normal stress and flow stress became 139.8
and 158.2 MPa, respectively. Both normal stress and
temperature was 1250 °C, the value became 26%. The
flow stress decreased when the pre-heating temperature
critical thickness reduction reduced by about 2% when
increased and the flow stress changed faster. Two
the temperature increased by 50 °C during the range
layers were not achieved bonding until the temperature
from 1000 °C to 1250 °C.
exceeded 1130 °C at the thickness reduction of 30%.
The results indicate that higher pre-heating tempera-
ture is beneficial to achieve the bonding in vacuum hot
rolling process. Meanwhile, higher pre-heating tem-
Thickness reduction
perature helps reduce the rolling load as well. The thickness reduction is one of the most important
The critical thickness reduction to realize the bond parameters of the rolling bonding. The normal stress in
under different pre-heating temperatures is shown in the interface and the flow stress of the material 316L at
Figure 10. The minimum single-pass reduction was different single-pass thickness reductions and the same
36.8% at the temperature of 1000 °C. When the rolling temperature of 1200 °C are shown in Figure 11.

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Qin et al.
Figure 12. Relationship between thickness reduction and the
minimum pass number.
Both normal stress and flow stress increased when the
thickness reduction increased. The normal stress chan-
ged faster than the flow stress when the relative thick-
ness reduction varied. The critical thickness reduction
to realize the bond was between 25% and 30%. In
order to determine the accurate critical thickness reduc-
tion, more thickness reductions were adopted in the cal-
culation. The maximum normal stress of the interface
was smaller than the flow stress of the material 316L
when the value was below 27%. The bond between two
metals was not realized. The stress condition of bond
criterion was met when the thickness reduction was up
to 28%. It indicates that larger thickness reduction is
beneficial to achieve the bonding.
The bond will not be realized if the thickness reduc-
tion was too small. However, it is also inadvisable to
adopt a very large thickness reduction in a single pass
due to the difficulty in biting and the limitation of roll-
ing mill. The method of multi-pass rolling bonding was
adopted to solve the problem. The thickness reduction
in the first several passes was assumed to be the same to
simplify the question. Relationship between the thick-
ness reduction and the minimum pass number to realize
the bond at the temperature of 1200 °C is shown in
Figure 12. Two passes would be needed at the thickness
reduction of 18.5–27.5 mm. The accumulative reduction
would be at least 37%. It was larger than the critical
thickness reduction 28% in a single-pass rolling bond-
ing. When the reduction was between 13.5 and 18 mm,
three passes would be required to realize the bonding.
The accumulative reduction would be at least 40.5%.
Similarly, the thickness reduction of 11.5–13.5 mm
responded to four passes and the minimum accumula-
tive reduction was 46%. The reduction of 9.5–11.5 mm
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9
Figure 13. Normal stress and flow stress at different roll
diameters.
responded to five passes and the minimum accumula-
tive reduction was 47.5%. The number of rolling passes
to realize the bond would be no less than 11 when the
thickness reduction in each pass was defined as 5 mm.
The minimum pass number to realize the bond
increases when the thickness reduction in each single
pass decreases. It is vital to balance the thickness reduc-
tion in each pass and the minimum pass number
needed. Taking the example of the rolling experiment,
in which the thickness reduction in the first four passes
was the same 12.5 mm, the bond between two metals
was not realized until the fourth pass and the accumula-
tive reduction was 50%. It would be better if the thick-
ness reduction in each pass was adopted as 13.5 mm,
because in this condition, less rolling pass number and
less accumulative thickness reduction would be needed
to realize the bond, which were three passes and 40.5%,
respectively. The thickness reduction of 11.5 mm was
another option and four passes would be needed. The
accumulative reduction would be 46%, which was
smaller than 50% as well.
Roller diameter and rolling speed
The normal stress in the interface and the flow stress of
the material 316L under different roller diameters are
shown in Figure 13. In this condition, the rolling speed
was 1.1 m/s, the heating temperature was 1200 °C, and
the relative reduction was 30%. The change in roller
diameter slightly affects the flow stress. However, the
normal stress in the interface increased significantly
when the roller diameter increased. When the roller
diameter was 550 mm, the normal stress in the interface
was 81 MPa. The value was smaller than the flow stress
10
of the material 316L, which was 92.6 MPa. When the
roller diameter was increased to 900 mm, the normal
stress in the interface became 98 MPa. The value was
larger than the flow stress of the material 316L, which
meant the bond was realized. In the range from 600 to
850 mm, the normal stress increased by about 1.4 MPa
when roller diameter increased by 50 mm. Two layers
were not achieved bonding until the roller diameter
exceeded 725 mm at the rolling speed of 1.1 m/s.
Therefore, a larger roller diameter is beneficial to
achieve the bond of stainless clad plate.
The normal stress and the flow stress at different
rolling speeds are shown in Figure 14. In this condition,
the heating temperature was 1200 °C and the relative
reduction was 30%. Both stresses increased when the
rolling speed increased. In the range from 0.5 to 2 m/s,
the normal stress in the interface increased by about
Figure 14. Normal stress and flow stress at different rolling
speeds.
(a)
Figure 15. Assemble pattern applied before rolling: (a) outer soft and inner hard and (b) inner soft and outer hard.
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Advances in Mechanical Engineering
3.6 MPa when the rolling speed increased by 0.5 m/s.
The ratio of the normal stress and the flow stress
increased slightly when the rolling speed increased. It
indicates that the rolling speed affects the bonding pro-
cess a little according to the bond criterion of stress.
Assemble patterns
Currently, there are two typical assemble patterns for
rolling stainless clad plate. The first one is outer soft
and inner hard as shown in Figure 15(a), which meant
that the softer material Q345R was located outside and
the harder material 316L was located inside. The sec-
ond one is inner soft and outer hard as shown in
Figure 15(b).
The normal stress and the equivalent plastic strain
along the thickness direction at different assemble pat-
terns are shown in Figures 16 and 17, respectively. Both
values first increased and then decreased from the roll-
ing surface to the center of the plate. There was a sud-
den change in stress and strain in the interface due to
the property differences of different metals. The sudden
change in stress in the interface was 1.54 MPa in the
assemble pattern of outer soft and inner hard, while it
was 5.44 MPa in the assemble pattern of outer hard
and inner soft. The sudden change in equivalent plastic
strain was 0.0078 in the assemble pattern of outer soft
and inner hard, while it was 0.0704 in the assemble pat-
tern of outer hard and inner soft. The value of both
strain and stress in the assemble pattern of outer hard
and inner soft was larger than that in the assemble pat-
tern of outer soft and inner hard. It indicates that the
assemble pattern of outer hard and inner soft might
caught larger inconsistent deformation in the interface.
The thickness ratio of stainless steel layer and clad
plate is defined as the covering rate. The normal stress
in the interface and the flow stress of the harder mate-
rial 316L at different covering rates in the assemble pat-
tern of outer soft and inner hard are shown in
(b)
Qin et al.
Figure 16. Normal stress along the thickness direction with
assembly methods.
Figure 17. Equivalent plastic strain along the thickness
direction with assembly methods.
Figure 18. The flow stress barely changed, while the
maximum normal stress increased when the covering
rate becomes greater. When the covering rate was 0.05,
which meant the initial thickness of the stainless steel
layer and the carbon steel layer was 5 and 95 mm,
respectively, the normal stress in the interface was
85 MPa and the flow stress was 92 MPa. The normal
stress was smaller than the flow stress of the material
316L, which indicated that the bond was not realized
according to the bond criterion of stress. When the cov-
ering rate was increased to 0.25, the normal stress in
the interface became 97 MPa and the flow stress
remained 92 MPa. Two layers were not achieved bond-
ing until the covering rate exceeded 0.18. Therefore, a
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11
Figure 18. Normal stress and flow stress at different covering
rates.
larger covering rate in the assemble pattern of outer
soft and inner hard is beneficial to achieve the bond of
stainless clad plate.
Layer materials
The normal stress in the interface and the flow stress of
the harder material under different material combina-
tions of the layers and the same thickness reduction of
22 mm are shown in Figure 19. The value of normal
stress was mostly decided by material properties of the
base layer when the covering rate was small. The nor-
mal stress increased when the deformation resistance of
the base layer increased. When the base layer was
softer, as shown in Figure 19(a) and (b), the difference
between the normal stress in the interface and the flow
stress of the hard material was smaller if the deforma-
tion resistance of the base layer and clad layer was
closer. The bond was easy to be realized when the
deformation resistance of the base layer and clad layer
was chosen close in the assemble pattern of outer soft
and inner hard. However, when the base layer was
harder, as shown in Figure 19(c) and (d), the difference
between the normal stress and the flow stress of the
hard material was barely affected by the material com-
binations of different layers. Therefore, it is advisable
to choose a harder carbon steel as the base layer when
the certain stainless steel is selected.
Conclusion
1. Higher temperature and larger thickness reduc-
tion are beneficial to achieve the bonding in
12 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 19. Normal stress in the interface at different material combinations: (a) outer soft and inner hard with the same inner
material, (b) outer soft and inner hard with the same outer material, (c) outer hard and inner soft with the same inner material, and
(d) outer hard and inner soft with the same outer material.

vacuum hot rolling process. The critical reduc-
tion to realize the bond at the temperature of
1200 °C is 28%. And the critical thickness
reduction reduces by about 2% when the tem-
perature increases by 50 °C during the range
from 1000 °C to 1250 °C.
2. The relationship between the minimum pass
number, thickness reduction, and accumulative
reduction has been discussed. The minimum
pass number to realize the bond increases when
the thickness reduction in each single pass
decreases. Two passes will be needed when the
thickness reduction in each rolling pass is
18.5–27.5 mm. The accumulative reduction will
be at least 37%. When the thickness reduction
is 13.5–18 mm, three passes will be required and
the accumulative reduction will be at least
40.5%. Four passes will be required and the
accumulative reduction will be at least 46%
when the thickness reduction is 11.5–13.5 mm,
and five passes will be required and the accumu-
lative reduction will be at least 47.5% when the
thickness reduction is 9.5–11.5 mm. Moreover,
the number of rolling passes to realize the bond
would be no less than 11 when the thickness
reduction in each pass was 5 mm.

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Qin et al.
3. The assemble pattern of outer hard and inner
soft will lead to deformation incompatibility of
the interface comparing with the assemble pat-
tern of inner hard and outer soft. And large cov-
ering rate in the assemble pattern of outer soft
and inner hard is beneficial to achieve the bond
of stainless clad plate.
4. It is advisable to choose a harder carbon steel
as the base layer when the certain stainless steel
is determined. Moreover, large roller diameter
is beneficial to achieve the bonding of stainless
clad plate.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the National High
Technology Research and Development Program of China
(no. 2013AA031302).
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