Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191

www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

A 3-D finite element method analysis of cold rolling of thin strip

with friction variation
Z.Y. Jiang , A.K. Tieu
Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Received 2 October 2002; accepted 2 December 2002

Abstract

In this paper, a three-dimensional rigid-plastic finite element method (FEM) model to simulate the cold rolling of thin strip with
different friction models is described. The effects of rolling parameters, such as work roll diameters and reductions, are analysed
in this study. The simulation and experimental values of rolling pressure and spread (the difference of strip width before and after
rolling) show a good agreement when friction variation in the roll bite is considered. The roll separating force, spread and forward
slip for constant friction and friction variation models are also compared. The friction variation in the roll bite has a significant
effect on the simulation results.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Friction variation; Cold rolling; Thin strip; Finite element analysis; Rolling parameters

1. Introduction tice of plastic working. The traditional approach is to

With the development of science and technology,
there are two main ways for steel manufacturers to
increase their competitiveness in steel manufacturing
markets. One is to develop new products that are of low
cost; the other is to improve the quality of products with
new mills and new technology introduced in the rolling
practice. The thin strip produced in a cold rolling mill
has a wide application in industry. However, a major
handicap to producing an accurate and reliable model
for cold rolling of thin strip is the lack of a well-defined
friction boundary condition at the interface of roll-strip,
which introduces problems in terms of strip shape and
flatness. It is a challenge for researchers to overcome
these problems.
Research has shown that at the striproll interface, the
tribology [1, 2], that is friction, lubrication and wear, has
a significant influence on the dimensional accuracy and
the surface quality of strip. Friction at the strip-roll inter-
face is an important consideration in the theory and prac-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-61-2-42214545; fax: +1-61-2-
42213101.
E-mail address: jiang@uow.edu.au (Z.Y. Jiang).
assume that the frictional force in the roll bite is pro-
portional to the normal force, with the friction coefficient
remaining a constant in the roll bite. However, previous
researchers have shown that the friction varies in the roll
bite [3], and it affects the rolling pressure and the accu-
racy of on-line control models. Zhang [4] has investi-
gated the mechanics of cold rolling of thin foil and Fleck
et al. [5] studied the cold rolling of foil with constant
friction.
The 3-D finite element method (FEM) has been used
in the analysis of strip rolling [611], shape rolling
[12,13] and slab rolling [1416] in the past. Jiang et al.
[1721] have used the finite element method to solve
problems associated with special shaped strip rolling,
particularly with friction variation models [18, 21]. In
order to model realistically, it is necessary to employ a
variable friction model in the roll bite. The aim of this
paper is to simulate the cold rolling of a flat thin strip
considering the friction variation in the roll bite by a 3-
D rigid-plastic FEM. The simulated rolling pressure, roll
separating force, spread and forward slip from different
friction conditions are then compared.

0301-679X/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0301-679X(03)00049-5
186 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191

Nomenclature
B Appropriate spatial derivatives of the shape functions
B Element average matrix
bx Width of strip in the deformation zone
bzk Spread in thickness direction at kth element
b Spread
D Function of strain and temperature
g Compressible factor
h Average thickness of strip in roll bite
K1, K2 Constant for forward and backward slip zone
k Shear yield stress
k1, k2 Positive constant
k3 Very small positive constant
l Projected length of the deformation zone
M Number of elements
m Strain rate sensitivity index
m1 Friction factor
m2 Number of nodes at the exit of strip
m3 Number of elements in thickness direction
N Shape function
N1 Number of nodes
Ne Number of Gauss points of an element
P Roll separating force
S Forward slip
T Conversion
T1 Tension
V Volume
vx, vy, vz Velocity component in x, y and z directions
VR Tangential velocity of roll
Vg,Vf Relative velocity between the surfaces of the strip and the rolls
s Material flow stress
s Equivalent stress
ss Yield stress
sz Stress along the thickness direction

e An equivalent strain rate
e Equivalent strain
tf Frictional shear stress
b Angular position in roll bite
l Deceleration coefficient

2. Deformation analysis e the equivalent strain rate and m the strain rate sensi-
tivity index. The second term on the right hand side of
According to the variational principle [17], the real Eq. (1) is the work rate of friction (ff); Vf the relative
velocity field must minimise the following functional: slip velocity at the interface of the material and the roll,

where a frictional shear stress tf is applied. In the friction
1 variation model, the friction varies along the contact
sedv tfVfds (1)
m1 v sf length of the deformation zone. In this study, the fric-

tional shear stress model [6] is modified as:

sv
T1vds fp ff ft
tf Ki
3 p
m1ss 2 1 Vg
tan
ki
(2)
where the first term on the right hand side is the work
rate of plastic deformation (fp), s the equivalent stress, where m1 is the friction factor; ss yield stress; Ki a coef-
 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191 187

ficient describing the changes of frictional shear stress e Bv (7)

in the deformation zone with K1 used in the forward slip
zone and K2 in the backward slip zone; ki is a positive
constant, k1 is for forward slip zone and k2 backward slip
zone. The relative slip velocity, Vg, between the rolled
material and the roll is given by:
Vg (vxsecbVR)2 v2y
where matrix B contains appropriate spatial derivatives
of the shape functions. Thus, the energy functional Eq.
(1) can be approximated by the sum of the energy func-
tional at element level, resulting in:
(3)

e e

where vx and vy are the velocity components in the x and

y directions respectively, b is the angular position of the
fi
1
m1 ss
vi
v B ZBv gv B C CBvdV
T T
1 T T T

i1 i1
node, VR is the tangential velocity of the roll, and the
distribution of these frictional shear stress models is
shown in Fig. 1. When ki = 0.0 and K 1 = K 2 = 1.0, Eq.
(2) describes the constant friction model. Vf is also the
relative slip velocity along the rollslab contact interface
and can be approximated by:

i
m1ss
3 v N v2v v N
T T
R
T

T
cosb
0 v2R k23k3 dS

Vf (vxsecbVR)2 v2y Vg
sf
(4) sinb

The third term on the right hand side of Eq. (1) is the

work rate (ft) of tension. T1 is the tension and v the
velocity of the cross section with tension. Here indi-
cates the front tension, and + the back tension.
st
i
T1vidS

Assuming the material is rigid-plastic and obeys the

following constitutive relation:
(8)
s Dem (5)
where g is a compressible factor, k3 is a very small posi-
where D is a function of strain and temperature and m tive constant, C and Z, see Ref. [17]. The solution for the
is the strain rate sensitivity index. nodal velocity vector is obtained as it makes the above
The procedure of the standard 3-D rigid-plastic finite functional minimum [17]. This requires:
element discretisation with slightly compressible

materials is as follows: a control volume, V, is 0 (9)
discretised into M eight-node hexahedron elements v
linked through N1 nodes. In each element, the velocity It can be solved by the modified Newton-Raphson
distribution u can be represented in vectorial form by iteration:
u NTv
where v is the nodal velocity vector and N the shape
(6)
vj vj1 lvj
2
v
vvT j1 j

v j1
(10)
function matrix of the element. The strain rate tensor is where l is the deceleration coefficient.
then obtained from The rolling force can be calculated from Eq. (11):

P l

0
bx

0
szdydx (11)

where l, bx are the projected length and width of strip

in the deformation zone, respectively; sz is the stress in
the thickness direction. The forward slip can be obtained
from Eq. (12):

m2

vxi
i1
S 1 (12)
m2VR
where vxi is the node velocity at exit of rolled material;
m2 is the number of nodes at the exit of strip. The spread
can be calculated by Eq. (13):

m
1 3
Fig. 1. Frictional shear stress models. b b (13)
m3k 1 zk
188 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191

Fig. 3. Effect of k2 on rolling pressure.

3.3. Flow model of material

Fig. 2. FE mesh used for analysis of strip rolling.
A model material, low carbon steel, was used in the
simulation of strip rolling. The constitutive model [7]
where m3 is the number of elements in thickness direc- used to describe the behavior of this low carbon steel is
tion, and bzk is the spread in thickness direction at
kth element. s 245.98 702.66e0.58 (MPa) (14)
where e is the plastic strain. Copper was also used as a
model material with the flow model given by
3. Simulation conditions
s 70.3(1 e / 0.022)0.49 (MPa) (15)
3.1. FE mesh

As the deformation is symmetric about both the yx 4. Results

and zx planes, one quarter of the deforming workpiece
as shown in Fig. 2, was studied. Isoparametric hexa-
hedral elements with eight Gauss points were used
throughout the strip, including the entry to the roll gap.
The number of elements along the x, y and z directions
are 10, 8 and 5 respectively, resulting in a total number
of 400 elements and 594 nodes. There is a thin element
layer [21] at the entry of the roll bite.
3.2. Velocity boundary conditions
The velocity boundary conditions are shown in Table
1. vx, vy, and vz are the velocity components in directions
x, y, and z, respectively.
4.1. Effect of k1 and k2
From the simulation with low carbon steel, Figs. 3
and 4 show the effect of reduction on rolling pressure
and spread of strip for different k2 and constant k 1 =
0.1. It can be seen that k2 has a significant influence on
the simulation results. The smaller is k2, the larger the
rolling pressure, and when k2 is less than 0.1, the calcu-
lated rolling pressure is closer to the measured value.
The calculated spread for k 2 0.1 is also close to the

Table 1
Velocity boundary conditions (see Fig. 2)

Position Velocity

AA1B1B vy = vz = 0
EHH1E1 vy = vz = 0
CDD1C1 v z / v x = tg b
BCC1B1 vz = 0
HH1A1A vz = 0
EHAB vy = 0
Fig. 4. Effect of k2 on spread.
 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191 189

Fig. 7. Effect of reduction on rolling pressure.

Fig. 5. Effect of k1 on rolling pressure.

measured result when the reduction is less than 43%.

For k 2 = 0.1, the change of k1 also has an effect on the
simulation results, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It can be
seen that the calculated results are in good agreement
with the measured values for k 1 = 0.1. Therefore, the
simulation results are close to measured values when k1
and k2 are less than 0.1.

4.2. Effect of rolling parameters on simulation results

The rolling of copper strip is simulated with work roll

diameter 158.76 mm, width of strip 76.2 mm, rolling
speed 0.16 m/s and friction factor m 1 = 0.4. For case 1,
K 1 = K 2 = 1.0 and k 1 = k 2 = 0.1 and case 2, K 1 = 0.7,
K 2 = 1.4 and k 1 = k 2 = 0.1. The effect of reduction on
rolling pressure is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that
rolling pressure increases when the reduction increases,
and the difference between the rolling pressures obtained
from the constant friction and friction variation models
is not significant when the reduction is less than 30%.
However, it becomes significant when the reduction is
over 30%. It can also be seen that the constant K1 and
K2 have an influence on the rolling pressure, the rolling
pressure increases when K1 decreases and K2 increases
Fig. 8. Effect of reduction on spread.
(friction variation case 2). When K1 decreases, the for-
ward slip zone increases, the resistance to deformation
of the strip increases, thus causes the rolling pressure
to rise.
The friction variation in the roll bite has a significant
effect on the spread as shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen
that the spread increases with reduction, and the calcu-
lated spread obtained from the constant friction model
is higher than that from the friction variation case. It can
also be seen that the spread reduces when K1 decreases
and K2 increases (friction variation case 2), because in
this case, the forward slip increases (see Fig. 9), more

Fig. 6. Effect of k1 on spread. Fig. 9. Effect of reduction on forward slip.

190 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191

Fig. 10. Effect of reduction on frictional work rate.

Fig. 12. Effect of diameter of work roll on spread.

metal flows along the rolling direction, resulting in a

decrease of the transverse flow of metal. It is found in
Fig. 8 that the effect of friction variation on spread is
not significant for reduction 25%.
Fig. 10 shows the effect of reduction on frictional
work rate. It can be seen that the friction variation mod-
els have a significant influence on the frictional work
rate when K1 and K2 change for reduction 30%.
The effect of the work roll diameter on the roll separ-
ating force is shown in Fig. 11. It can be seen that as
the work roll diameter increases the roll separating force
increases, and the effect of the work roll diameter on roll
separating force is not significantly different between the
friction variation model and constant friction model.
However, there is a significant influence on the spread
and also an effect on the frictional work rate when the Fig. 13. Effect of diameter of work roll on frictional work rate.
friction variation models are employed (see Figs. 12 and
13). It is also found that when the work roll diameter bite increase, and therefore raise higher roll separating
increases, the roll separating force, spread and frictional force and the frictional work rate. Because of the
work rate increase. With a larger work roll diameter, increase of the contact length of the roll bite, the shape
both the contact length and the contact area of the roll parameter (l/h, l the contact length, h the average thick-
ness of strip in the roll bite) of the deformation zone
increases, resulting in a change of the stress state in the
roll bite, and higher rolling pressure. Therefore, in order
to reduce the load on the rolling mill and save the energy
in the rolling process, it is necessary to reduce the diam-
eter of work roll if practicable.

5. Conclusions

A model for cold strip rolling which takes into

Fig. 11. Effect of diameter of work roll on roll separating force.
account friction variation was found to have a significant
effect on the results of simulation. Simulation results are
close to the measured values when k1 and k2 are less
than 0.1. The constants K1 and K2 have an influence on
the simulation results. The rolling pressure and forward
slip increase when K1 decreases and K2 increases,
although the spread will reduce. When a suitable friction
variation model is employed, the calculated results, such
as rolling pressure and spread are in good agreement
 Z.Y. Jiang, A.K. Tieu / Tribology International 37 (2004) 185191
with the measured values. The friction variation model
also has an effect on the simulation results when the
rolling process parameters, such as the work roll diam-
eter and reduction change. The frictional work rate, roll
separating force and spread increase with the work roll
diameters. Therefore, in order to decrease the load on
the rolling mill and save the energy in the rolling pro-
cess, smaller work roll diameter should be used if practi-
cable. The modelling of the friction variation can pro-
duce a more accurate model that can improve the
accuracy of simulation results.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by an Australian Research
Council (ARC) Discovery-Project grant including Aus-
tralian Research Fellowship and UoW Start Up Grant,
Australia.
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