Rolling Mill
A rolling mill is a machine or factory for shaping metal by passing it between a pair of work rolls. Rolling mills are often incorporated into integrated steelworks, but also exist as separate plants and can be used for other metals, and other material.
Rolling mills historically have been of several kinds:
- Depending on the temperature of the metal being rolled, rolling mills are typically hot or cold rolling mills.
- A slitting mill was used to cut flat bar iron into rods for nail-making.
- A tinplate works normally contained at least two rolling mills, one for hot rolling and the other for cold rolling single plates, prior to tinning.
- From the Industrial Revolution, puddled iron, after consolidation with a powered hammer (shingling), was rolled into bar iron using a rolling mill with grooved rolls. The grooves provided were progressively smaller, so that on successive passes through the rolls, the cross-section of the bar became smaller and the bar itself longer. By designing the rolls appropriately, it is possible to obtain iron or steel with various cross-section, including I-shaped girders and railway rail.
For silversmithing mainly two types are used, a flat one (with two cylindrical rolls) for rolling sheet and one with grooved rolls for rolling octagonal wire. The rolls are made of hardened steel.
You can imagine how this might be used in the process of making aluminum foil. An aluminum ingot enters the rolling mill with a thickness of 45 cm. after passing through a hot rolling mill 12 to 16 times it is reduced to a thickness of just 5 cm. The aluminum then goes to the cold rolling mill to reduce it to its final thickness of less than 0.20320 mm. (.008 in.).
Hot Rolling - Hot Rolling Process | Hot Rolling Application | Types of Hot Rolling Mill | Hot Rolled Steel Tube | History
Cold Rolling - Physical metallurgy | Degree of cold work | Cold Rolling Stainless Steel | Manufacturing Process
Foil rolling | Rolling Mill | Steel Mill | Production methods | Recycling of Steel | Modern Steelmaking | Contemporary Steel
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