Physical Simulation of Hot Rolling Steel Plate and Coil Production for Pipeline Applications

Within the techniques and equipments used to simulate industrial thermomechanical processing of High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) pipeline steels, hot rolling laboratory mill equipped with cooling bed and coiling simulation furnace allows, not only accurate control of strains, temperatures, inter-pass times, and cooling rates but also enough amount of processed material for micro-structural characterisation and mechanical testing. Despite some differences with the industrial rolling, laboratory rolling offers a better simulation of the industrial rolling conditions than other thermo-mechanical simulators in terms of deformation mechanisms and processing constrains. This paper presents the results of simulation of different rolling schedules applied on pipeline grades in order to better understand the influence of the finishing rolling parameters namely: finish rolling temperature (FRT) and cooling routes on the microstructure and mechanical properties. It was observed that FRT and cooling rate have a strong impact on both grain refinement and precipitation behaviour, which leads to significant differences in strength and toughness. Furthermore variations of the above mentioned rolling parameters produce distinct fractions and distributions of austenite transformation products, variations in the final crystallographic texture and trigger diverse strengthening mechanisms (i.e. dislocation hardening). It was found that the accelerated cooling in a combination with a coiling simulation results in formation of microstructures with well developed low angle grain boundaries in comparison to the simulation made with air cooling. As a consequence the strength of the plates after accelerated cooling increases without changes in the Charpy impact toughness. It has been shown that the understanding of the effect of processing parameters on the microstructure of these steels is a key aspect for the optimization of their mechanical properties.