ROLLING DEFECTS

A mini project report

Submitted
To

VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT

RASHTRIYA ISPAT NIGAM Ltd.

Under the esteemed guidance of

Sri P.V. RAO
Asst General Manager (LMMM)
LMMM Department

By

V.Sai Akshathala V L N SaiKrishna

13011A0637 13011A0653
D.Spandana. Nagabushi Rakesh Kumar
13011A0642 13011A0659
M.Sravanthi Kondannapeta SaiKrishna
13011A0643 13011A0660

Bachelor of Technology
in

Department of Metallurgical Engineering

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD.

1
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that V.Sai, D.Spandana, M.Sravanthi, A.V.L.N SaiKrishna, N. Rakesh

Kumar, K.SaiKrishna bearing roll nos. 13011A0637, 13011A0642, 13011A0643,

13011A0653, 13011A0659, 13011A0660 have done their mini project report on topic entitled

ROLLING DEFECTS

With reference to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant RINL.

And is being submitted in partial fulfillment for award of Bachelor of Engineering in

Metallurgical Engineering to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad
College of Engineering, Hyderabad. is a record bonafide work carried out by them under my
guidance and supervision during 09-05-2016 to 28-05-2016.

The results embodied in this project report have not been submitted to any other university or

institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

VISAKHAPATNAM.
DATE:

P.V RAO
Assistant General Manager
L.M.M.M Department
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant
Visakhapatnam

2
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project report on

ROLLING DEFECTS
Submitted by V.Sai, D.Spandana, M.Sravanthi, A.V.L.N SaiKrishna, N. Rakesh
Kumar, K.SaiKrishna is a bonafide work that has been carried out by them as part of their
INDUSTRIAL MINI PROJECT during 3rd year B.Tech (Metallurgical Engineering) 2nd
semester with reference to VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT(RINL) ,
VISAKHAPATNAM. This report has not been submitted to any other institute or university
for the award of any degree.

Smt. Dr. S. DEVAKIRANI

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF
METALLURGICAL
ENGINEERING

JNTUH
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
HYDERABAD.

PLACE:
DATE:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is an honour for us to present this project which has helped us in enhancing

our practical and theoretical skills in various metallurgical aspects.
With great pleasure we take this opportunity to express gratitude to all the
people who helped us to complete this project successfully.
We express our sincere gratitude to Mr. P.V RAO, AGM(LMMM) for his
valuable and constant guidance during the tenure of our project.
We profusely and sincerely thank Mr. K.V VIDYA SAGAR GM (MILLS)
BARS, Mr. K.RAMESH, AGM(E), for providing us an opportunity to use the
facilities and infrastructure of VAP for the successful completion of our project
work.
We are eternally grateful to All employees of LMMM department for their
valuable time, suggestions and guidance given during the execution of project
work.
We would also like to show our special gratitude towards Mrs Dr S.Devakirani
(HOD, Department of Metallurgical Engineering), for her infinite patience and
perseverance in teaching and suggesting the remedies in our project. Her
encouragement has been a source of inspiration during our course and project
work.
We thank all employees in rolling mills who was very kind to us for collecting
the information about various defects and their causes
We would like to thank Mr Dr K.Srinivasa Vadayar (Prof. Department of
Metallurgical Engineering), for being a constant support and guidance.
We would also like to thank all those not mentioned above without whom our
project would have been incomplete without proper practical learning
experience.

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 ABSTRACT

The VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT is one of the biggest steel plant in

the country and the first shore located plant in India, which today is mostly
known for two things , which uniquely signify the attributes of this plant.
Firstly, it is a completely integrated and self-sufficient plant.
Secondly, the quality of the steel it produces , being truly world class.

Visakhapatnam is the only shore based Indian integrated steel plant, with a rated
capacity of 3.4 Mt Hot Metal , 3.0 Mt Liquid Steel and 2.656 Mt Saleable
Steel. Today Visakhapatnam is also known as a Steel City and this fame
should completely be accredited to the VSP (Visakhapatnam Steel Plant). This
gigantic organization, spread in an area of 20sq km is completely integrated and
is the first of this kind. The plant is automated to a large extent and has
comparatively less work force compared to other steel plants of the country, but
the quality of production and the level of productions is nowhere a compromise
which signifies the efficiency of the workforce of the plant .

In the steel making process, Rolling mills play a vital role in transforming the
steel to finished products. Rolling mills at VSP consists of LMMM, WRM ,
and MMSM. The blooms rom SMS are charged to reheating furnaces of
LMMM for heating then up to 1200 degree and subsequent rolling.

The project deals with basic study and analysis of the Rolling Process, various
defects occur during rolling process, their causes and various rectification
techniques. The whole project is about How to minimize the rolling defects to
improve the quality of the output material.

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 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1- Introduction and survey of literature

1.1 Overview of VSP
1.2 Major departments

CHAPTER 2-Area of Study

2.1 Rolling Process
2.2 Types of Rolling Mills
2.3 Description about LMMM

CHAPTER 3-Rolling Defects

3.1 Definition of Rolling Defects
3.2 Types of Rolling Defects

CHAPTER 4-Conclusion

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND SURVEY OF

LITERATURE

1.1 Overview of VSP:-

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the first coastal based steel plant of India is located 16 km South
West of City of Destiny, Visakhapatnam. Bestowed with modern technologies, VSP has an
installed capacity of 3 million tons per annum of liquid steel and 2656 million tons of
saleable steel. At VSP, there is an emphasis on total automation, seamless integration and
efficient up-gradation, which result in wide range of long and structural products to meet
stringent demands of discerning customers within India and abroad.
VSP has distinction to be the first integrated steel plant in India to become a fully ISO-9001
certified company. The certificate covers quality systems of all operational, maintenance, and
service units beside Purchase Systems, Training and Marketing functions spreading over 4
Regional Marketing Offices, 20 branch offices and 22 stock yards located all over the
country. VSP by successfully installing & operating efficiently Rs 460 cores worth of
Pollution Control and Environment Control Equipments and converting the barren landscape
by planting more than 3 million plants has made Steel Plant, Steel Township a greener,
cleaner and cooler place, which can boost 3 to 4C lesser temperature even in peak summers
compared to the Visakhapatnam city.

VSP plans to make a continuous presence in the export market. Having a total man power of
16613, VSP has envisaged labor productivity of 265 tons per man year of Liquid Steel which
is the best in the country and comparable with the international levels.

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VSP Technology: State -of the-Art

7 meter tall Coke Oven Batteries with coke dry quenching. Biggest Blast
Furnaces in the Country

Bell - less top charging system in Blast Furnace

100% slag granulation at the BF Cast House

Suppressed combustion - LD gas recovery system
100% continuous casting of liquid steel.

"Tempcore" and "Stelmore" cooling process in LMMM & WRM respectively

Extensive waste heat recovery systems
Comprehensive pollution control measures

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Major Source of Raw Material:

Raw Material Source

Iron Ore Lumps & Fines Bailadila, MP

BF Lime Stone Jaggayyapeta, AP

SMS Lime Stone UAE

BF Dolomite Madharam, AP

SMS Dolomite Madharam, AP

Manganese Ore Chipurupalli, AP

Boiler Coal Talcher, Odissa

Imported Boiler Coal Indonesia

Imported Coking Coal Australia / US

Medium Coking Coal Kathara / Swang /

(MCC) Rajarappa / Kedla
Imported LAM Coke China

Quartzite Lump & Fines Local

Sand Sarepalli, AP

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 MAJOR UNITS:

Department Annual Capacity Units (3.0 MT Stage)

( T)
2,701 4 Batteries of 67 Ovens & 7Mtrs. Height
Coke Ovens

5,256 2 Sinter Machines of 312 Sq.Mtr. grate

Sinter Plant area each

3,400 2 Furnaces of 3200 Cu.Mtr. volume each

Blast Furnace

3,000 3 LD Converters each of 133 Cu. Mtr.

Steel Melt Shop
Volume and Six 4 strand bloom casters

710 2 Strand finishing Mill

LMMM

850 4 Strand high speed continuous mill with

WRM no twist

850 6 STAND FINISHING MILL

MMSM

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 MAIN PRODUCTS of VSP:

Steel Products By-Products

Blooms Nut Coke Granulated Slag

Billets Coke Dust Lime Fines

Channels, Angles Coal Tar Ammonium Sulphate

Beams Anthracene Oil

Squares HP Naphthalene

Flats Benzene

Rounds Toluene

Re-bars Zylene

Wire Rods Wash Oil

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1.2 MAJOR DEPARTMENTS

RAW MATERIAL HANDLING PLANT (RMHP):

The Raw Material Handling Plant (RMHP) receives the basic raw materials
required for the steel making process from various sources through railway wagons
and by road. These are stacked by stackers and reclaimed by reclaimers and
distributed to various departments of VSP through conveyor system. The Iron Ore
Fines, Iron Ore Lump, Sized Iron Ore, Limestone (BF&SMS grades), Dolomite (BF
& SMS grades), Sand, Quartzite and Manganese lumps are stacked at Ore & Flux
Yard. The Imported Coking Coal (ICC), Medium Coking Coal (MCC) , Boiler Coal
(BC) are stacked in Coal Yard. Coke is sent directly to Blast Furnace after tippling
from ore and flux wagon tipplers .

These raw materials are sent to various departments as indicated below:

Sinte Plant: Iron Ore Fines, Lime stone (BF), Dolomite, Sand and
LD slag.
Blast Furnace : Sized Iron Ore, Limestone (BF)/ LD slag,
Manganese Lump, Quartzite and Coke.
SMS : Dolomite (SMS), Sized Iron Ore, Dolo chips.
CRMP : Limestone (SMS), Dolomite (SMS), Dolo
chips.
TPP : Crushed Boiler Coal.
CO&CCP : Imported coking coal (ICC), Medium coking
coal (MCC).

COKE OVEN AND COAL CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT

COAL PREPARATION:

From the storage yard, the coking coal is sent to foreign material removing
section to remove foreign matter of above 150mm size. Iron traps for ferromagnetic
12
 articles and cylindrical screens are provided for this. For averaging and proportioning
of coal, 16 nos. of bins each 800 tons of capacity are provided along with continuous
action feeders of up to 100 tons per hour capacity each. After blending the material is
crushed to take care of petro graphic non-uniformity, high hardness and mineral
content of coal. The crushing is carried out in reversible hammer crushers 2 operating
and 1 standby. The crushed and blended coal (74-78% of 3mm size) is conveyed to
two coal towers each of 4000 T capacity. Weigh bridges are provided under coal
towers to weigh the coal charge. System of pneumatic blow down of blend is
provided in the coal tower to take care of jamming of coal.

BATTERY:

The prepared coal charge in the coal tower is drawn by a charging car on the
top of the batteries and charged into the ovens as per sequence. The charged coal is
gradually heated by the heating walls of the oven in the absence of air to attain a
temperature of 1000-1050C C at the central axis of the coke mass towards the end of
coking period. The coking period is generally specified between 16 hrs and 19 hrs
depending on oven condition and production requirement. The volatile matter of coal
liberated during carbonization is collected in gas collecting mains in the form of raw
coke oven gas passing through stand pipes and direct contact cooling with ammonia
liquor spray. The gas cooled from 800C to 80C is drawn to coal chemical plant by
Exhauster. The residual coke is pushed out of the oven by pusher car through a guide
into coke bucket. The red-hot coke is taken to coke dry cooling plant for cooling.
There are 3 batteries, each having 67 ovens. Each oven can hold 32 tons of dry coal
charge. The volumetric capacity of each oven is 41.6 m3. The heat for carbonization
is supplied by under firing of coke oven gas having CV of 4200 Kcal/Nm3 or mixture
of BF gas & CO gas having CV 900 Kcal/Nm3.

SINTER PLANT

SINTERING:
Sintering is a process of Agglomerating iron ore fines into a porous mass by incipient
fusion caused by combustion within the mass of the ore particles.

History of Sintering
Iron ore fines (0-10 mm) which were a result of mechanized mining could not be
charged in a Blast furnace because they reduce the permeability of burden in a blast
13
 furnace. These iron fines that were generated at mines could not ignored because of
their
i) Huge quantity and
ii) High iron content.
To use these fines effectively in a Blast furnace many processes were developed.
Sintering being one of them and widely in integrated steel plants.

Raw materials used in sintering:

Various raw materials used in sintering process are
i.Iron ore fines (0-10 mm)
ii. Coke - used as fuel
iii.Limestone & Dolomite - to maintain required sinter basicity
iv. Sand - to maintain required sinter basicity
v.Metallurgical wastes to use wastes effectively and reduce the cost of
sinter
vi. Lime - to enhance the process of sintering

BLAST FURNACE
BURDEN HANDLING AND FURNACE CHARGING:

Hot Metal is produced in Blast Furnaces, which are tall vertical furnaces. The furnace is
named as Blast Furnace as it is run with blast at high pressure and temperature. Raw
Materials such as Sinter/ Iron Ore Lumps, Fluxes (Limestone/ Dolomite) and Coke are
charged from the top and blast at 11000-13000C and 5.75 KSCG pressure is blown
almost from the bottom. The furnaces are designed for 80% Sinter in the burden.
VSP has two 3200 m Blast Furnaces (Largest in India) equipped with Paulworth Bell
less top equipment with conveyor charging. Rightly named as Godavari & Krishna
after the two rivers of AP, the furnaces will help VSP in bringing prosperity to the state of
Andhra Pradesh.

Provision exists for granulation of 100% liquid slag at blast furnace cast house
and utilization of blast furnace gas top pressure (1.5-2.0 atmospheric pressure) to generate
12 MW of power in each furnace by employing gas expansion turbines.
The two furnace with their novel circular cast house and 4 tap holes each are capable of
producing 9720 Tonnes of Hot Metal daily or 3.4 Million Tonnes of low Sulphur Hot
Metal annually.
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 STEEL MELT SHOP

In Steel Melting Shop of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, LD Process of steel making has been
adopted. The liquid steel obtained from LD process is cast into Blooms through Continuous
Casting Machines (Bloom Casters).
Steel is an alloy of Iron with Carbon upto 1.8%. Hot Metal produced in Blast Furnaces
contains impurities such as carbon (3.5-4.25%) Silicon (0.4-0.5%), Manganese (0.3-0.4%),
Sulphur (0.04% max) and Phosphorous (0.14% max) is not suitable as a common Engg.
Material. To improve the quality the impurities are to be eliminated or decreased by oxidation
process.
VSP produces steel employing 3 Nos. of top blown Oxygen Converters called LD
Converts (L & D stand for Linz and Donawitz- two towns in Austria where this process was
first adopted) or Basic Oxygen Furnaces/ Converters. Each converter is having 133 m
volume capable of producing 3 Million Tonnes of Liquid Steel annually. Besides Hot Metal,
Steel Scrap, Fluxes, such as Calcined lime or Dolomite form the part of the charge to the
converters.
99.5% pure Oxygen at 15-16 KSCG pressure is blown in the converter through Oxygen
lance having Convergent-Divergent copper nozzles at the blowing end. Oxygen oxidizes the
impurities present in the Hot Metal, which are fixed as slag with basic fluxes such as lime.
During the process heat is generated by exothermic reactions of oxidation of metalloids viz.
Si, Mn, P and Carbon and temperature rises to 1700C enabling refining and slag formation
Different grades of steel of superior quality can be made by this process by controlling
the Oxygen blow or addition of various ferro alloys or special additives such as Fesi, FeMn,
Si-Mn, Coke Breeze, and Aluminum etc. in required quantities while liquid steel is being
tapped from the converter

CONTINUOUS CASTING SHOP

Continuous casting transforms molten metal into solid on a continuous basis and includes
a variety of important commercial processes. These processes are the most efficient way
to solidify large volumes of metal into simple shapes for subsequent processing. Most
basic metals are mass-produced using a continuous casting process, including over 500
million tons of steel, 20 million tons of aluminum, and 1 million tons of copper, nickel,
and other metals in the world each year.

15
Continuous casting may be defined as teaming of liquid steel in a mould with a false
bottom through which partially solidified ingot/bar ( similar to the shape and cross section
of the mould) is continuously withdrawn at the same rate at which liquid steel is teamed
in the mould.
Facilities at a continuous casting machine include a lift and Turn table for ladles, copper
mould, oscillating system tundish, Primary & Secondary Cooling arrangement to cool the
steel bloom. Gas cutting machines for cutting the blooms in required lengths (Av. 6
meters long).
At VSP we have 6-4 strand continuous casting machines are capable of producing 2.82
Million Tonns per year. Blooms of size 250 250 mm and 250 320 mm. entire quantity
of molten steel produced (100%) is continuously cast in radial bloom casters which help
in energy conservation as well as production of superior quality products.

LIGHT AND MEDIUM MERCHANT MILLS

INTRODUCTION:
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has three sophisticated Rolling mills, designed to produce
2.656 million tones per annum of finished products from continuously cast blooms
with a wide range of product mix.

The mills are:

a. Light & Medium Merchant Mill (LMMM)
b. Medium Merchant & structural Mill (MMSM)
c. Wire Rod mill (WRM)
Some of the Salient features of the mill are:
a. High capacity and high speed.
b. Automatic minimum tension control in stands
c. Double sided cooling beds of walking beam type.
d. High capacity and high productive sawing lines.
e. Automatic bundling machines.
f. Computerization at the sequential process control and meterial tracking
g. Adoption of closed circuit TV at furnaces.
h. evaporative cooling system and waste heat recovery.

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 These features help to optimize the production and assure quality products from
the mill.

BLOOM STORAGE AND INSPECTION:

The SMS supplies continuous cast blooms in killed and semiskilled quality of
ordinary grade, high carbon and low alloy steels . The bloom storage is at right angles
and common to all mills. Bloom inspection and storage, if necessary, is carried out in
the common storage.

Light and Medium Merchant Mill:

LMMM comprises of two units. In the Billet/Breakdown mill 250 320 mm size
blooms are rolled into the Billets of 125 125mm size after heating them into nos. of
Walking beam Furnaces of 200 Tonnes per hour capacity each. This unit comprises
of 7 strands (2 horizontal 850 1200 mm) and 5 alternating vertical and horizontal
strands (730 1000mm and 630 1000 mm) Billets are supplied from this mill to
bar mill of LMMM and Wire Rod Mill.

The billets for rolling in bar mill of LMMM are first heated in two strand roller
hearth furnace of 200 T/h capacity to temperature of 1150-1200C. the bar mill
comprises of 26 strands 8 strand double strand roughing train 2 nos. of 5 strands ,
double strands, intermedial train and 2 nos. 4 strands single strand finishing trains.
The mill is facilitated with a temperature core heat treatment technology evaporative
cooling system in walking beam furnace, automated pilling and bundling facilities,
high degree of automation and computerization.
The mill is designed to produce 710,000 Tonnes per annum of various finished
products such as rounds, re-bars, squares, flats, angles, channels besides billets for
sale.

MEDIUM MERCHANT AND STRUCTURAL MILL

The Medium Merchant and Structural Mill (MMSM) is one of the modern rolling
mills of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. It is the third and last rolling mill as per the

17
rationalized concept. This is a single strand continuous mill having production
capacity of 8,50,000 T/year.

The important feature of this mill is that Universal beams (both parallel and
wide flange) have been rolled first time in India using Universal stands. Parallel
flange beams have advantage over conventional beams as per the same weight the
section is stronger and stiffer due to greater moment of inertia and higher radius of
gyration. The steel grades which can be rolled include mild steel, medium carbon
steel, chromium steel, spring steel, forge quality, bright bar quality and various
structural steels. The quality and tolerance of the finished products meet Indian and
International standards. The mill is designed to achieve 50% DIN tolerance.
.

PROUDCTION PROCESS
Blooms charged on the charging grid are conveyed one by one to furnace approach
roller table, which are weighed and charged to either of the furnaces in two rows.
Heated blooms are discharged singly and rolled in 20 stand continuous mill. The
maximum speed of rolling is 9 m/ sec. Four crank shear behind finishing train divides
the bar optimally to charge the cooling bed uniformly and performs head and tail cut
operation. A diverter switch directs the divided bar to either side of the cooling bed.
After cooling, the profiles which need straightening are straightened by an inline
straightening machine and are collected into layers on the collecting bed. These layers
are then fed to a cold saw line for cutting into desired saleable lengths. Each saw line
consists of one stationary saw and two movable saws which are suitable for tandem
cutting. After saw cutting, the bar layers are conveyed to a cross transfer where visual
inspection is done. Defective bars are tracked and piled / bundled separately. Rounds,
angles (smaller) and flats are bundled by the bundling machine; where as other
profiles are formed into nested packets by the piling machines. The packets / bundles
are weighed and tagged with labels to identify the product size, heat no, order no,
quality etc., before dispatch/transferring to storage yard.

WIRE ROD MILL

The Wire Rod Mill of VSP is high speed 4 strand No-Twist continuous mill designed
to produce 8,50,000 T of wire rod coils. The mill is designed to produce plain wire
rods from 5.5 mm to 12.7 mm dia and Rebar in 8mm, 10mm and 12mm diameter in
18
coil form. However sizes up to 14mm are being rolled presently. The mill is
constructed at an elevated level of +5350mm. Rolled billets of 125 mm x 125 mm
square cross section , length ranging from 9.8 m to 10.4 m and weighing approx 1250
kgs are used as input material. The mill is designed to roll steel stock of 0.9% max.
Carbon content. The rolled billets received from billet mill are placed on charging
grid I & II at +0.00 level in packet form with the help of electro magnet cranes. The
billets are moved towards Cross transport by means of 4 rope operated pawl transfer.
The charging grid I has AC drive and charging grid-II is operated by DC drive. The
cross transport receives the billet individually from charging grid-II and transfer them
to billet elevator. The billet elevator takes the individual billets to mill floor level at
+5.35 M. Using billet transfer device and billet positioning device, the packet of
4billets are made on approach roller table guoup-1 which are further carried forward
to furnace entry using another 4 groups of roller tables arranged in tandem. After the
billets are positioned in front of walking beam furnace, the walking beam of furnace
collects the billets from roller table and charge them into furnace. The furnace is
combined type walking hearth cum walking beam furnace of 200 T/hr capacity. The
walking beam is operated by 180 bar hydraulic pressure system. The furnace is
approx 42M long and 11M wide. The billets are heated to 12000 C gradually in 4
different zone using 60 flat flame roof burners and 6 long flame burners at bottom
soaking zone. The in-house generated mixed gas (mixture of Coke Oven gas, BF gas
& LD gas) of calorific value 2000 15% Kcal/Nm3 is used as fuel. The mixed gas
and combustion air is preheated to 2500 C and 5200C respectively in recuperators
before combustion at burners. The heating time is approx 71 minutes and each
walking beam cycle is 72 sec in which billet packets are moved by 900 mm. the
furnace is equipped with waste heat recovery systems i.e. gas & air recuperators. The
combustion products are let out into atmosphere through a 45 M high chimney. The
complete process control is done by microprocessor based instrumentation control
system. Slight Positive and oxidizing atmosphere is maintained inside the furnace.
The homogenously heated billets are discharged by hydraulically driven discharging
machine called Peel bar into groove of stand 1. A billet withdrawing machine is
arranged between furnace exit and stand 1. It uses pinch roll to feed or return billets
from or into furnace. The four shiftable position billet switch is provided in front of
withdrawing machine to feed four strands of mill individually. A 4 strand pendulum
shear and high pressure (180 bar) water descaler is arranged between billet switch and
stand

19
Wire Rod Mill is a 4 strand, 25 strands fully automated and sophisticated mill. The
mill has 4 zone combination type reheating furnace (walking beam cum walking
hearth) of 200 TPH capacity for heating from billets received from billet mill of
LMMM to rolling temperature of 1200C.
The heated billets are rolled in 4 strand. No twist continuous mill having a capacity
of 8,50,000 Tonnes of Wire Rodcoils and having the following configuration.
- 7 strand two high 4 strand horizontal roughing train
- 6 strand two high 4 strand horizontal intermediate Mills
- 2 strand 4 strand per finishing Mill
- 10 strand 4 strand. No twist finishing mill
The mill produces round in 5.5-12 mm range and rebars in 8-12 mm range.
The mill is equipped with standard and retarded stelmore lines for producing high
quality Wire rods in Low, Medium, High carbon grade meeting stringent National
and Inter-national standards viz. BIS, DIN, JIS, BS, etc and having the ductility,
uniform grain size, excellent surface finish.

20
 CHAPTER 2
AREA OF STUDY
2.1 Rolling process:
Rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls.
There are two types of rolling process- flat and profile rolling. In flat rolling the final shape of
the product is sheet (thickness is less than 3 mm) or plate (thickness more than 3 mm). in
profile rolling, the final product is either a round rod or other cross sections shaped products
such as structural sections (beams, channels, rails etc.). The initial breakdown of ingots into
metal blooms and billets is done by hot rolling.

Hot Rolling:
Rolling is classified according to the temperature of work piece rolled. If the temperature of
the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling.
For hot working processes, large deformation can be successively repeated, as the metal
remains soft and ductile. Rolling involves passing the material between two rolls revolving
more or less at the same peripheral speed but in opposite directions, i.e. clockwise and
counter-clockwise. These rolls can either be flat or grooved for rolling of rods or shapes. The
distance between is less than cross-section of input. Under these conditions, the rolls grip the
piece of metal and deliver it, reduced in cross-sectional area and therefore, length increases.
The initial hot-working operation for most steel products is done on the primary
roughing mill (blooming, slabbing or clogging) followed by intermediate and
finishing mills.
The blooms are heated initially to 1100-1300. In hot rolling, the temperature in the
ultimate finishing stand varies from 850-900, and is always above the upper
critical temperature of steel.
The rolls run on massive neck bearings mounted in housings of enormous strength
and driven by powerful electric motors. These are known as mill stands.

During heating austenite phase forms and gets deformed/elongated in the rolling direction
followed by recrystallization when the roll is cooled microstructural changes occur.
Formation of martensite occurs which gets tempered due to cooling. Bainite also forms.
Pearlite and ferrite phases are also formed. Rate of recrystallization is heavily influenced by
the amount of deformation applied. The rate of recrystallization is heavily influenced by the

21
amount of deformation applied. Heavily deformed materials recrystallize more rapidly than
those deformed to a lesser extent. Indeed, below a certain percentage deformation
recrystallization may never occur. Deformation at higher temperatures allows concurrent
recovery. Materials recrystallize more slowly than those deformed at room temperature e.g.
contrast hot and cold rolling. The volume fraction of recrystallized grains increases with
temperature for a given time.

ROLLING OF LONG PRODUCTS;

The rolling of long products has a long tradition. It began with industrialization in the 19th
century: rails were needed in large quantities for the rail network. Since then the market has
grown at an enormous pace. Today such products play a pivotal role in everyday life.
Modern, high-speed trains run safely on rails; beams and sections are what give bridges and
buildings their stability and steel bars are indispensable in the mechanical engineering and
automotive industries. It is impossible to imagine modern life without wire rod and the range
of materials associated with it. Major construction projects and the industrial production of
most goods were simply not possible without long products. Long products consist of Section
and billet mills, Bar and wire rod mills, Merchant bar mills.

2.2 Types of Rolling Mills

22
 Light and Medium Merchant Mills (LMMM):

LMMM comprises of two mills.

1. Billet mills.
2. Bar mills.
Billet mill: Also called as Break Down Mill (BDM). It converts blooms of 320mm x
250mm cross section and 6.1 6.35 m length, in to billets of size 125mm x 125 mm
square cross section. The Billet Mill supplies feed material, i.e., billets to both Bar Mill
and Wire Rod Mill (WRM). The blooms that are soaked in the Walking beam furnaces
are rolled in Billet mill to produce billets of 125mm x 125mm cross section.
Bar mill: The Bar Mill also is a hot rolling mill with a series of stands (both horizontal
and vertical) to convert billets of 125mm x 125 mm size to finished long product of
various sections ranging from 16mm to 36mm size Rebars & Rounds and other structural
products like Angles and Channels.
Bar mill consists of 3 groups:
1. Roughing mill.
2. Intermediate mill.
3. Finishing mill.
Bar Mill is a two-line mill, though, initially has a single roughing group in common, with
two strands, to accommodate rolling of two billets simultaneously for two lines. There are
8 stands in roughing group, five stands each in 2 lines of intermediate group and 4 stands
each in 2 lines of finishing group. The Roller Hearth Furnace of Bar Mill provides initial
soaking of billets to keep the temperature (1150 C 1200C) alive during rolling in Bar
Mill. The billets are fed from Billet Mill with a continuous feed in to the two lines of Bar
Mill, alternatively. The billets pass through the stands of all three groups (Roughing,
Intermediate & Finishing) to shape them in to bars of desired section. The bars produced
are cut to set length by cooling bed shear and are sent on to cooling bed for cooling.
There are cooling bed shears and cooling beds on both the lines separately. Production of
TMT bars is achieved with the help of Temp-core cooling process. Temp-core process
involves cooling of Rebars to fetch additional mechanical properties. This process of
conditioning Rebars is a remarkable feature in rebar production. The cooling bed
provides air cooling of the bars by means of fans. The bars are shifted to the end of
cooling beds while they are cooled down, with moving rake mechanism. At the end of
cooling bed, the bars are collected in batches and are moved to Finishing Area by means
of roller tables. The LMMM produces mainly Rebars, Plain Bars.
23
REBARS: 16, 18,20,22,25,28,32,36 mm.
PLAIN BARS: 16, 18, 20.64, 22, 25,28,32,33.5,36 mm.

Wire Rod Mill (WRM):

Wire rod mill (WRM) is a 4 strand, 25 strands fully automated & sophisticated mill. The
mill has four zone combination type reheating furnace (walking beam cum walking

24
hearth) of 200TPH capacity for heating the billets received from Billet mill of LMMM
to rolling temperature of 12000C.
The heated billets are rolled in 4 strand. No twist continuous mill having a capacity of
8,50,000 tonnes of Wire Rod coils. Rolled billets of 125 mm x 125 mm square cross
section, length ranging from 9.8 m to 10.4 m and weighing approximately 1250 kg are
used as input material. The mill is designed to roll steel stock of 0.9% maximum Carbon
content. The mill produces rounds in 5.5-12mm range and rebars in 8-12 mm range.
The mill is equipped with standard and retarded stelmore lines for producing high quality
wire rods in low ,Medium & High carbon grade meeting the stringent National &
international Standards viz. BIS,DIN,JIS,BS etc. and having high ductility uniform grain
size, excellent surface finish.

25
 Medium Merchant and Structural Mills (MMSM):

The Medium Merchant and Structural Mill (MMSM) is one of the modern rolling mills of
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. It is the third and last rolling mill as per the rationalized
concept.
Medium Merchant & structural mill is a high capacity continuous mill consisting 20
stands arranged in 3 trains. The feed material to the mill is 250250mm size blooms,
which is heated to a rolling temperature of 12000C in two walking beam furnaces. The
mill is designed to produce 8,50,000 tons per annum of various products such as rounds,
squares, flats, angles(equal and unequal), T bars, channels, IPE beams /HE
beams(universal beams).

2.3 Description about LMMM

Introduction:
LMMM comprises of two units. In the Billet/Breakdown mill 250 320 mm size
blooms are rolled into the Billets of 125 125mm size after heating them into nos. of
Walking beam Furnaces of 200 Tonnes per hour capacity each. This unit comprises
of 7 strands (2 horizontal 850 1200 mm) and 5 alternating vertical and horizontal
strands (730 1000mm and 630 1000 mm) Billets are supplied from this mill to
bar mill of LMMM and Wire Rod Mill.

The billets for rolling in bar mill of LMMM are first heated in two strand roller
hearth furnace of 200 T/h capacity to temperature of 1150-1200C. the bar mill
comprises of 26 strands 8 strand double strand roughing train 2 nos. of 5 strands ,
double strands, intermedial train and 2 nos. 4 strands single strand finishing trains.
The mill is facilitated with a temperature core heat treatment technology evaporative
cooling system in walking beam furnace, automated pilling and bundling facilities,
high degree of automation and computerization.
The mill is designed to produce 710,000 Tonnes per annum of various finished
products such as rounds, re-bars, squares, flats, angles, channels besides billets for
sale.

The Distributors of Billets are:-

26
a) Bar Mill : 726,000 tonnes
b) Wire rod mill : 885,000 tonnes
c) Saleable Billets : 246,000 tonnes

The latest developments the light and medium merchant mill is designed with the
operating floor on a second storey elevation namely +5.0 mts. This arrangement
has many advantages. It provides better drainages for both lubricants and water
and mill scale.
Blooms for LMMM are placed on charging grids (3 No s) of 150 tonnes pr hour
capacity each by 16 tones claw cranes (2 No s). The blooms are then delivered to
the furnace approach roller table (+5.8 mts) by an inclined elavaator from bloom
storage roller table (+0.8 mts)
There are 2 Nos of walking beam furnaces of 200 tonnes per hour capacity with
double row charging. The blooms also can be discharge from the charging side of
the furnaces incase of emergeny. Heated blooms are placed piece by piece by
disscharging devices on the furnace delivery roller tale. The blooms are descaled
on all 4 sides by a high pressure descaler.
In 5 box passes and 1 each of diamond and squae in the 7 stands. The finishing
speed will be 1.3 to 16 mts/ sec. A4- crank shear installed behind the mill stands is
designed to crop both ends and to out fixed billet lengths between 5 and 12.2 mts
One bloom is rolled for the LMMM and the next one for the WRM alternatively .
Billets are also sold. The billets for WRM and for sale are cooled on 2 turn over
type ccooling beds to a maximum discharge emperature of 400 degree celsius .
These billets are picked up by magnetic cranes of 16T capacity in the intermediate
billets storage and transported to the transfer grids in the billets inspecton area of
dispatched for sale.
A cooling stretch is provided after each finishingline for rapid cooling of
reinforced bard of 10-25 mm as per the rocess of temp core to improve mechanica
properties . This is a special technological feature of this mill. Plain rounds from
12 mm 40mm can also be cooled to reduce secondary sealing.
A total cooling bed of 130 mts*12 mts has been provided for cooling down the
rolled section to about 80 degree maximum for straightening.
In the down stream of the cooling beds there are multi strand straighten machines
( maximum 8 straightening strands). The no of rolls are 8 ( top 4 bottom 4). The
two cold shears have a cutting pressure of 500 MP each. Desired finished lenghts

27
between 5mts and 12mts or maximum 24 mts are set by grider type guage
carriage. Tail lengths less than 3mts are discharged into cradles near the cold
shears.The bar bundling facilities have provision for counting the bars ,
automatically storing out the under lenghts and strapping the collected bars,
automatically pile bars into squares packs. Strapping og bar bundles and packs is
by means of wire.
The finishing section packs/bundles are finally transported to the weathers which
are connected to one printer each and which in turn are connected to label
embosser.

PROCESS CONTROL COMPUTERISATION

Functions of the Materials tacking computer System

1. Receiving production data either diretly from the production planning
computer system or manually from the shift managers room
2. Setup detailed production lists ffor the individual production sections in the
plant like furnace , various mill zones, billet store, cooling bed and finishing
3. Output of data lists to individual operating points.
4. Material tracking from weight measuring equipment behind the bloom input
points to the entry of the bar mill cooling bed.
5. Recceiving of production data during the rolling operation such as bloom
length, billet length, weights and temperatures related to various place etc,
6. Output of production logs
7. Management of 56 rolling parameters and transmitting this data to appropriate
process control units
8. Mill control and automation are implemented in micro computers

LMMM REHEATING FURNACES.

Reheating furnaces are installed heating feed material to the required rolling
temperature. The charecteristics of these furnaces are below.

S NO PARTICULARS BLOOM BILLET

HEATING

28
 HEATING

1 Type of furnace Walking Through type

beam,charaging with roller hearth
and discharging
2 No of funaces 2 1

3 Nominal Capacity 200 200

(T/hr)
4 Inside lengths Mts 29.4 40

5 Inside width : Metres 14.2 0.96

(Wall to wall)
6 Input material size 250*320*5.5- 125*125
and weight (kg) 6.6mm mm**32.7
3.430-4120
7 Charge temp (degree Ambient 1100
celsius)
8 Calorific value of Mixed gas 2000 Mixed gas
fuel oil and Mixed Kcal/NM Cub 2000 Kcal/ NM
gas Fuel oil 10,700- cub
10,800 Kcal/Kg
9 Temp of the metal Max 1150
Heating ( degree
celsius)

10 Walking beam travel

(mm) Horizontal 450 -
Vertical 250 -

11 Max Connected 2,500

Flow of fuel gas 76000
(Nmcub/hr) 15.4
Oil (T/hr)
12 Max charge of the 511 tonnes -
furnace
13 Heating temperature

29
 Air 450 450
Gas 350 380

14 Location of Burners Roof to pand Side walls

bottom and Front
wall
15 Stack Height(M) Common Stack Common storage
(150) (150)

16 Specificified fuel Mixed gas (330) Mixed gas (225)

consumption (10 Fuel Oil (318)
cud/Kca/T)

WALKING BEAM FURNACE:

Two walking beam furnaces each having a through put capacity of 200 t/h are provided for
starting stock reheating.
In each of these furnaces, the blooms disposed at predetermined spaces are passed through
the furnace unit in step. Lift able and lower able walking Beams adapted to move in
horizontal steps carry the blooms for advance transport and after each step redeposit them on
fixed beams.
The locally defined contact between walking beams and blooms is just time limited and
then changes over to other contact points with the fixed beams. The formation of cold spots
is avoided this way and, in addition to top heating, underside heating is also possible in the
equalization zone. Due to this fact and also due to the relative spacing of blooms on their way
through the furnace, the overall furnace length is reduced compared to a pusher type furnace
unit.

Further advantages of the walking beam type furnace include.

1. Billet jumping and scrambling is avoided, hence unobjectionable separation of
different grades in the mill material flow.
2. No sticking of ground blooms.
3. Uniform soaking due to enlarged billet surface (4sides)
4. Charging of under length or divided blooms possible
5. Better adaptation of the furnace capacity to mill output
30
 6. Provisions for running the furnace empty over weekends and incase of repairs and
thus avoiding the formation of scale and skin decarburization.
7. Gain in production shifts.
There is to be seen in this conjunction however that walking beam furnaces are more
expensive than pusher type furnaces and due to their mechanical and hydraulic
moving elements call for more stringent requirements to be satisfied in regard to
maintenance.

Both installed walking beams are of identical design and rated for a throughput of 200 t/ h
each
The furnaces are charged in 2 rows by means of the approach roller table. Bloom pushers
take care of pushing the blooms in pairs into the starting position on the fixed carrier tube
system and simultaneously centering them rectangular to furnace by the so called walking
beam system i.e., the bloom is lifted off the starting position from the fixed hearth, moved
one step towards the discharging side and then redeposit on the hearth.
The movement characteristic is rectangular. This way the bloom is transported through the
furnace step by and simultaneously heated up to rolling temperature by the time it is
discharged from the discharging end. The billets heated up to rolling temperature by means of
discharging devices with take over billets from defined Passover position on the fixed carrier
tube system, remove them from the furnace and deposit them on the furnace run out roller
table.
Each furnace has a clear length of 29400mm and a clear width of 14000mm. Heating inside
the furnaces is from ambient temperature to discharging temperature of abt. 100-1200 degree
Celsius. Bloom oxidation losses during heat up are to the order of 0.8%.
The furnace is completely surrounded by a plate casing except for the roof area. The charging
and discharging sides have water cooled wall in the upper area. Beneath these walls are the
furnace charging and discharging doors of split type.
The inner lining of furnace walls, furnace floor, and furnace roof as well as of fixed and
movable grids consists of refractory material. Doors are provided in the furnace walls for
observation and repair of the furnace interior.
Furnace firing is by means of mixed gas or fuel oil at option. The combustion air is drawn
from the free atmosphere by a fan and preheated to 450 degrees Celsius in the air recuperates
with the aid of hot exhaust gases. When the furnace is mixed-gas is also preheated to
350degree Celsius in a gas recuperate.

31
TEMPCORE COOLING PROEESS:
The finished bar now enters the temp core boxes. There are two cooling
stretches each installed just downstream the last stand of the finishing mill. The purpose of
cooling stretch is to cool down the rebars to such an extent so as to produce desired
mechanical properties. It also serves to control the scale formation.
The bar leaving the last of the finishing mill passes through a cooling stretch i.e. tem core
box. The cooling efficiency of this installation is such that a surface layer of the bar is
quenched into martensite, the core remaining austenitic. The quenching treatment is stopped
when a determined thickness of martensite has been formed under the skin. When the
rebar leaves the cooling stretch, a temperature gradient is established in the cross section of
the bar causing heat to flow from the center to the surface which results which in self-
tempering of the martensite.
Tem core cooling process is a specially of the VSP, LMMM.

FINAL PRODUCTS OF LMMM:

The mill is designed to produce 7,10,000 tons per annum of various finishing products such
as:
Plain: 16, 18, 20, 20.6,25,28,32,33.6,36mm
Ribbed v bars: 16,18,20,22,25,28,32,36,40mm
Angles: 35*35*6, 60*60*6, 50*50*5mm.
Plates: 30*6mm
Channels: 40*32,75*40mm
20.64 diameter of plain rods are used in making of railway springs by Indian railways.

32
 CHAPTER 3
PROJECT WORK
ROLLING DEFECTS
3.1 Definition of Rolling Defect
If temperature is not uniform throughout the material during rolling process then
defects may occur in the final product.
3.2 Types of Rolling Defects

In hot Rolling, if the temperature of the work piece is not uniform the flow of the material
will occur more in the warmer parts and less in the cooler. If the temperature difference is
great enough cracking and tearing can occur.
Rolled in Scales(RIS)

Different Types of RIS:

Primary scales due to poor descaling
Primary scales due to high temperature
Secondary scales due to descaling
Secondary scales(Drag /comet type) from coil box
Tertiary scales due to Roll Roughness(Salt & pepper/Banded type)
Silicon / Red Scales (Tiger Scales)

Steps to control RIS (Remedy)

Cleaning off loose from slab surface
Avoiding overheating of slab surface
Dropout temperature
Edging
Descaling impression test
Use of scale master nozzle & use of optimum height between the strip and the
nozzle tip
Coil box by pass
Oxidizing atmosphere
Descaling pressure
Roll cooling and Roll bite lubrication
Proper scheduling of surface critical grades

33
 Damage of surface from apron plate
Use of inter stand descaler

Primary Scales due to Poor Descaling

Scales (iron oxides) generated at various Hot Rolling stages get rolled into the strip
surface due to difference reasons.
Prone grade: Any grade
Location: Scattered
Appearance: Black-Grey
Origin / Root Cause
Improper descaling / failure of primary descaler.
Nozzle clogging of primary descaler.
Sticky scale (low )O2, High Temperature & High Retention Time).

Remedy / Process Control

Maintain high Descaler Pressure (>180 Bar).
Take Impression / Correction of Nozzle Impression.
Maintain Oxidizing atmosphere (>2%), low temperature (1200 degree Celsius) & low
temperature 21/2 to 3 hrs
Primary Scales due to High temperature

Prone grade: Grades processed with high RMET-IFHS

Location: Scattered, in portions where high temperature was experienced by slab
Appearance: M Shaped
Origin / Root Cause
High Furnace / Roughing Mill Exit Temperature

Remedy / Process Control

Low Roughing Mill Exit Temperature (<1080 degree Celsius)
Secondary Scales due to poor Descaling
Origin / Root Cause
Improper descaling / failure of secondary descaler.
Nozzle clogging
Low pressure of descaling water

Remedy / Process Control

Maintain high Descaler Pressure (>180 Bar)

34
 Take Impression / correction of Nozzle Impression
Secondary Scales (Drag / comet type) from Coil Box

Prone grade: IF /SPH 440

Location: TE (1/4th) of HR coil, more on bottom (HR)
Origin / Root Cause
Ovality of Coil in Coil Box.
Un- flatness of Tr. Bar.
Worn out rolls in coil Box
Remedy / process control
Maintain roughing Mill Exit Temperature
Coil (Tr. Bar) Tightness
Use of leveler
Frequent check / Replacement of worn out rolls
Tertiary scales due to roll Roughness (Salt & Pepper / Banded type)
Prone grades: Thinner Section/high strength
Location: Banded, throughout width
Appearance: Small, Spotted type

Origin / Root Cause

High Temperature due to high Mill pacing
Roll cooling Water Quality.
Amount of RBL.
Rolling loads due to adverse P Q S.
Scheduling Rules (wear KM).

Remedy / Process control

Optimization of Roll cooling water
Optimization of RBL
Right Product mix
Schedule length w.r.t. wear KM
Silicon / Red Scales (Tiger Scales)
Prone grades: Grades having silicon (>=0.20%), Cu,Cr (>=0.40%)
Location: Scattered, both surfaces
Appearance: Elongated, Patchy nature

Origin / Root Cause

Presence of Si, Cu, Cr type Elements leading to stickiness
35
 Soaking Temperature
Retention Time

Remedy / process Control

Increase Descaling Pressure (>180 bar).
All pass Descaling in Roughing Mill
Use of ISD in finishing Mill
Profile
Profile is made up of measurements of crown and wedge. Crown is the thickness in
the center as compare to the average thickness at the edges of the work piece. wedge
is a measure of the thickness at one edge as opposed to the other edge. Both may be
expressed as absolute measurements or as relative measurements. For instance, one
could have 2ml of crown (the center of the workpiece is 2 mi thicker than the edges),
or one could have 2% crown (the center of the work piece is 2% thicker than the
edges).
It is typically desirable to have some crown in the workpiece as this will cause the
work piece to end to pull to the center of the mill, and thus will run with higher
stability.
It is typically desirable to have some crown in the work piece as this will cause the
work piece to tend to pull to the center of the mill, and thus will run with higher
stability.

Draft
The difference between the thickness of initial and rolled metal piece is called Draft.
Thus if to is initial thickness and tf is final thickness, then the draft d is given by

d = t0 tf
the maximum draft that can be achieved via rollers of radius R with coefficient of
static friction f between the roller and the metal surface is given by
dmax = f2R
Reason : this is the case when the friction force on the metal from inlet contact
matches the negative force from the exit contact

Silver / Seams

36
 Irregular flaky overlapping material with non-metallic inclusions or scales under it . It
is found along the rolling direction and can appear on both surfaces. Sometime also
called seams, shell.
Possible causes:
Slag or nonmetallic material entrapment during casting or rolling.
Transverse crack in slab.

Types of Silver
Body silver / seams, Edge line silvers Body Line Silver
Body Silver / Seams
Sub surface defects in slab, like Non-Metallic inclusions, Mould power entrapment, Gaseous
inclusions etc. which open up in subsequent Hot Rolling / Cold Rolling stage.
Origin / Root Cause
Sever mould oscillations.
Flushing operation
Speed variation
Mould level fluctuation

Remedy / Process Control

Control over above parameters

Edge Line Silver

Transverse cracks on the slab edges lead to these defects during Hot Rolling
Origin / Root Cause
Quenching effect of the slab edges in sec. zone.
Poor ductility
Deep oscillation marks at the edges

Remedy / Process Control

Reduce water in secondary cooling zone
Control mould level fluctuation.

Body Line Silvers

37
Star / longitudinal cracks on slabs (body) leading to silver on Hot Roll Strips.
Origin / Root Cause
Varying mould flux (Heat extraction)
Mould Powder quality (viscosity).
High casting speed

Remedy / Process Control

Control of mould water
Use of high viscosity mould powder
Slower casting speed

Blister
Sub Surface blow holes of varying size and shape located closely, mainly due to argon
entrapment during casting, leading to Blisters in HR / CR after rolling
Origin / Root Cause
Excess argon purging
Mould level fluctuation
Rapid solidification near the mold causes gas entrapment

Remedy / Process Control

Control above parameters
Edge Crack
There are cracks observed on the edges of HR coil due to excess quenching effect

Origin / Root Cause

Excess water in FM / ROT / DC cooling the strip edges / body
Un flatness leading to water carryover

Remedy / Process Control

Avoid cooling water in FM,ROT (cross spray) and pinch roll water in DC
Roll flat Strip / remove water on ROT

Spongy Edge
There are cracks / pin holes on the edges due to improper ductility
Origin / Root Cause
Pin holes on slab edges
Deep oscillation marks
Poor Mn / S ratio

38
Remedy / Process Control
Avoid pin holes / deep oscillation marks
Maintain Mn / S ratio >12

Rolled in Extraneous material

Bolt, Mould Powder, etc., get rolled in the strip
Origin / Root Cause
Bolts falling on the slab / Tr. Bar
Mould powder on the slab
Roll material after spalling
Burns on the slabs.

Remedy / Process Control

Proper maintenance practices
Proper casting parameters / slab quality
Better roll quality & profile
Maintain operational practices.

Roll Marks
Types of roll marks
Lump, Sticker, V-Shaped, Fire-Crack, Zebra Pattern Mark
Lump
Roll Spalling or portion of roll surface chipping out giving rise to lump marks at regular
interval. This interval is depending on roll diameter.
Origin / Root Cause
Material of roll clipping off due to tail chewing.
Extraneous material denting the rolls.
Remedy / Process Control
Avoid tail chewing.
Proper slab Quality w.r.t. Burrs.
Sufficient cropping of Tr.Bar.
Follow up remedies as suggest for rolled in Extraneous material
Sticker
This sticker is observed when small pieces of scrap sticks on the roll surface generating dent
marks ( replica of the scrap) at regular interval depending on the roll diameter.
Origin / Root Cause
Sticking of extraneous material ( Burns) on rolls

39
Remedy / Process Control
Avoid tail chewing
Proper slab Quality w.r.t. Burrs.
Sufficient cropping of Tr. Bar

Follow up remedies as suggested for Rolled in extraneous material

V-Shape
Cold head mark of the Tr. Bar on the roll surface.
Origin / Root Cause
Cold head end of Tr. Bar

Remedy / Process Control

Sufficient cropping
Maintain high temperature at head end

Fire Crack
These are the transfer marks from the cracks generated on the finishing roll surface due to
thermal shocks. Appears on the regular intervals.
Origin / Root Cause
Thermal shocks on the rolls due to the remaining in contact with the roll bite for some
time particularly during cobbles.

Remedy / process Control

Avoid cobbles in FM.
Proper dressing of rolls

Zebra Pattern Mark

This is a mark which is generated on the strip surface due to undulation of roll surface.
Origin / Root Cause
Improper grinding of the rolls.
Remedy / Process Control
Skill of the grinder.
Proper finish of the roll surface.
Indentation Marks
This is a Dent mark which is observed at the Head End of the stripprox.20-30 meters.
Origin / Root Cause
Tongue shape of the strip head end.
Low temperature of the tongue.

40
 Tension of the strip while coiling.
High temperature of the strip (excluding tongue).
Remedy / Process Control
Head end un-cooled to keep tongue hot.
Reduce tension (maintaining coil tightness) to avoid excess pressure.
Reduce CT to avoid sticking of wraps.
Scratches / Grooves
Line marks on the strip surface which is generated from stationary parts.
Origin / Root Cause
Mechanical abrasion of strip with stationary parts.
All (table / ROT etc) to be in rotation.
Folds
Different types of folds are:
Edge Fold
Origin / Root Cause
Camber in strip (mainly HE /TE) while coiling.
DC side guide pressure.
Remedy / Process Control
Control wedge / camber at RM.
Optimize / maintain side guide pressure.
Body fold:
Origin / root cause:
loop in strip, before coiling
Remedy / process
Tension b/w F6/pinch roll / down coiler to be maintained.

Lamination

Defects in sheets and plates, which appear in a local area in layers and
Are generally caused due to segregation
Origin / Root Cause
Loop in strip, before coiling

41
Remedy / process control
Low s content (<0.005).
Low super heat (<30 degree Celsius).
Proper machine hearth
Soft reduction after casting

Camber
This occurs due to difference in heat concentration between the different parts of the
profile or faulty setting of rolls. It is measured by the minimum deviation of the middle
region from the straight line joining the corresponding points on the two boundary sides
or edges.

Origin / process control

Transfer Bar wedge.
Transfer Bar camber.
Servo valve response.

Remedy / Process control

Control wedge in Tr. Bar <0.15mm
Control Camber <10mm.
Servo valve nil offset<12%
Transfer Bar Wedge.
Transfer Bar Camber.
Servo valve response.

42
 Flatness

The flatness is a descriptive attribute characterizing the extent of the geometric deviation
from a reference plane
Types of flatness defects
Edge, waviness, Centre Buckle
The Different classifications for flatness defects are:
Symmetrical edge wave:- the edge on both sides of the work piece are Wavy due
to the material at the edges being longer than the material in the center
Asymmetrical edge wave:-one edge is Wavy due to the material at one side being
longer than the other side.
Center Buckle:- The center of the strip is Wavy due to the strip in the center being
longer than the strip at the edges..
Quarter Buckle:- This s a rare defect where the fibers are elongated in the quarter
regions (the portion the strip between the center and edge). This is normally attributed
to using excessive roll bending force since the bending force may not compensate for
the roll deflection across the entire length of the roll.

Origin / Root cause

Improper swiveling / Bending.
Improper CVC setup
Servo value response
Faulty pressure transducer.

Remedy / Process Control

Control Swiveling / Bending
Provide Un-flatness correction
Maintain basic condition of equipment
Control of tail end tension during coiling
Proper coiling gear selection.
Control Camber.
Control Cradle roll speed / alignment

43
 Zig Zag Wraping
Origin / Root Cause
Shifting of wraps on either side (O/s & D/S) while coiling.

Remedy / process Control

Use of correct. Hot Y. p valves.
Correct strip tension values
Higher CT.
Proper Product section / grade.

Bulging

Origin / Root cause

Belly shaped coiling due to Camber from RM, low strip tension in down coiler

Remedy / Process Control

Control Camber in RM.
Maintains proper tension.
No dia fluctuation of mandrel.
Servo value Response
Faulty Pressure transducer.
Control swiveling / Bending
Providing Un-flatness correction.

44
 Maintain basic conditions of the equipment.

Ovality

The Inner diameter of coil is not same in all direction and it was of a oval shape and having a
minor & major axis. Such a defects is known as ovality.
Origin / Root Cause
Sagging of coils after taking out of down coilers. It happens due to heat dissipations
after coiling and on conveyor.

Remedy / Process control

Control of flatness.
Control of CT to complete transformation on ROT itself.
Tension I DC.

45
 CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION
SAFETY MEASUREMENTS:
The role of safety measures in the working site in very crucial. Some of them are discussed
below:
1. While workers working at heights, a lifeline ( a rope tied to fixed ends ) have to be
provided to them and a safety net should be provided.
2. Helmet and safety shoes are must for everyone in the working site.
3. While working areas where there is emission of harmful gases, dust etc, and workers
must wear dust mask.
4. Welders must wear welding shield and leather gloves while welding.

CONCLUSION:-
We were exposed to the process of rolling mills and we observed the defects in rolling, their
cause & remedies. It is a wonderful experience to be trained here and there is a lot of scope to
learn about metallurgy.

46
47