Deformation Behavior of a Slab with Width Reduction in a Hot Mill

The deformation of a slab with various width reductions has been investigated using a rigid-plastic finite-element analysis. A commercial finite-element code was used to analyze a dog-bone profile, mean thickness, length of slab, and longitudinal width profile after edging and horizontal rolling. The deformation behavior of a slab in a heavy edger mill was also compared with deformation in a sizing press. It was found that the sizing press followed by horizontal rolling is more efficient in width reduction than deformation by a heavy edger mill followed by horizontal rolling. The finite-element analysis results for the deformation of a slab also show reasonable agreement with measurements from an actual mill test, and from physical modeling experiments.