The Plate Mill as a Microstructural Development Tool – a Mill Builders Perspective

by Nick Champion, Ruediger Doell

Publisher - Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Limited, Siemens AG

Category - General Novel

For many years, the plate mill has been seen and used by steel plate producers as a tool for the development of product properties via the control of microstructure. The skills of the mill builders, however, are mainly based in the mechanical and electrical engineering of rolling technology, and for this reason they have traditionally concentrated on the design and control of the machinery. The expansion of plate production in the last decade, as well as the market entry of less experienced operators, is leading to a change in the mill builders’ role, which now increasingly embraces the metallurgical aspects of the process. This paper considers key aspects that a modern mill must fulfil in order to control and develop microstructure, relating them both to the end application requirements and the equipment parameters. In particular the development of a metallurgical scheduling and process control tool, the microstructure monitor, will be discussed.

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