CHAPTER-1

1.1 INTRODUCTION

What is Profile Hot Rolling?

As we know, Mechanical Working of a metal is simply plastic
deformation performed to change dimensions, properties, and/or surface condition
by means of mechanical pressure. Mechanical working may be either hot working
or cold working. Plastic deformation above recrystallization temperature, but
below the melting or burning point is called hot work. Some hot working
processes are
Extrusion is a process in which a heated billet or slug of metal is forced by high
pressure through an orifice that is shaped to provide the desired form to the
finished part.
Drawing is pulling the metal through a die or a set of dies to achieve a reduction
in diameter.
Rolling is the most rapid method of forming metal into desired shapes by plastic
deformation in between rolls. In the hot rolling process, metal in a plastic state is
passed between two rolls revolving at the same speed but in opposite direction. As
metal passes through the rolls, it is reduced in thickness and increased in length. It
is used either for changing dimension of metal sheets or for forming of bars
having cross sectional area of simple shapes, i.e. square, rectangular

Think of the large number of small components used to manufacture a

variety of appliances, instruments, equipment and machinery. From springs to
blades, cutting tools to chisels and sections to rings. Though so large in numbers
quantity when translated into tones. High precision parts which are used in small
quantities may turn out to be too low weight wise to justify production on

1
 conventional Rolling Mills. The machining of rounds into different shapes to
continues conventionally. The result? Increased labor, heavy tooling charges and
prolonged schedules leading to a build up of unnecessarily large inventories at the
users’ end.

The Profile Rolling Mill, on the other hand, is a new concept in India and
has some unique features. Various pre-shaped sections with stringent dimensional
tolerances can be produced on it thereby avoiding the scrap generated due to
turning or milling. We can also call this process as Unconventional Rolling
process.

 Advantages Over Conventional Rolling

Such an arrangement of continuous heating & rolling has following advantages

over conventional rolling:

• Reduced scaling on account of electrical heating.

• Better dimensional tolerances due to reduced scaling.
• Consistency in dimensions due to continuous rolling.
• Reduced material wastage on account of better tolerances.
• Reduced cost of machining operations and saving in time.

2
 CHAPTER-2

2.1 PROFILE HOT ROLLING MILL

The Profile hot rolling mill has a state of the art manufacturing facility for
producing 6000 MT per annum of hot rolled & cold drawn solid steel sections with
close dimensional tolerances. This mill is manufactured by FALCI in Italy. These
types of only four mills are in the whole world. From these four mills two are it self
in Italy, one is in U.S.A and last one is in India.

The uniqueness of this latest technology lies in the fact that the profiles are
rolled from wire rods that are continuously heated on-line with electrical resistance
heaters, unlike from billets that are heated in fuel fired furnaces in conventional
rolling mills. Hot rolled profiles are solid shapes or sections that are manufactured
from either billets or wire rods. Unlike extrusion, where molten metal is pushed
through a die to obtain the required shape, the hot rolling process involves shaping
of the heated billets or wire rods by passing through a set of rolls that are rotating in
opposite direction. These roll sets are arranged in tandem in a number of rolling
stands. The rolls have groves cut in it as per the specific roll pass design and each
roll has a different set of groves. These profiles or sections have the same shape or
cross section throughout the length i.e. they are two dimensional shapes.

3
2.2 GENERAL SPECIFICATION

 Manufacturing : FALCI, Italy

 Plant capacity : 6000 MT/annum
 Connected electric load : 1000 KVA, 380 volts
 Raw material : Hot rolled wire rod
 Rolling speed : Rod entry speed 4 to 14 m/min
 Steel grade : Mild Steel, Medium Carbon steel, High
Carbon steel, Alloy steel, Stainless steel
 Specific Weight of Profiles : 0.2 Kg / meter to 4.5 Kg / meter
 Width of Profiles : 8 mm to 55 mm.
 Thickness of Profiles : 3 mm minimum.
 Length of Profiles : 3000 mm to 11000 mm
 Weight of Profiled Coils : 500 Kg. maximum
 Tolerance : On thickness  +/- 0.2 to +/- 0.5 mm.
On width  +/- 0.2 to +/- 0.5 mm.
On length  + 100 mm, - 0 mm.

4
2.3 PROFILE HOT ROLLING MILL COMPONENTS

 Uncoiler : In profile hot rolling process, uncoiler is also called raw material
holding equipment. The raw material of hot rolled wire in its coiled form loaded
on uncoiler. And as its name suggests it is used for uncoiling the raw material for
further process. fig.(2.1)
 Straighter: The raw material from uncoiler is in very uneven shape. To
convert this uneven shape in to the straight form straighter is used. For
straightening purpose it carries total 18 rollers. These rollers are arranged in such
a way that raw material has one line passage to pass. From 18 rollers, first nine
rollers punch the raw material vertically and remaining nine punch horizontally.
Arrangement of all 18 rollers are shown in fig.(2.2)
 Chain puller: The function of the chain puller is to guide the free end of
coiled raw material rod to the vertical roller of the straighter. Mostly it is fixed
with the straighter at bottom.
 De-scale: Descaling is the process of removing the scales and rough particles
from the rod so during the further processes there may not remain any impurities
on the profile.
 Heating zone: By using of heating elements, the temperature of rod can be
increased. Three heating elements, which are called heating zone 1, heating zone
2 and heating zone 3. Each heating zone is connected with electric load of 1000
KVA and 380 Volts. The current is passed in increasing order through each
zone. The heating zone 3 has maximum current about 800 to 1000 amp. , which
differs with the different raw materials. At zone 3 the raw material rod becomes
red hot. After this zone the actual rolling process has been started.

5
FIG.-2.1: UNCOILER

6
 FIG.-2.2 : ARRANGEMENT OF ROLLERS IN STRAIGHTER

 Mill stand : The red hot material from heating zones is directed to mill
stands, which are in 4 nos. Each mill stand has a pair of rolling assembly, which
contains one top roll and one bottom roll. These rolls revolving at same speed
but in opposite direction. The shape of profile cross section that we want is
grooved on these rollers. By passing the red hot material between the rolls and
applying tremendous amount of pressure on it, we get required shape of profile.
Four numbers of stands are required for increasing no. of pass, so profile is made
well finished and perfectly shaped.

 Pinch roll drive: The profile, coming out from mill stands, is very hot.
Pinch roll drive is used to grip this hot profile in such a way that the shape of
profile doesn’t change. Then after it draws the profile to the shear carefully.
 Shear cutter: Profile rolling process is continuous process, so after
rolling profile is cut in required length (between 3 m to 11 m).for cutting purpose
shear is used. For cutting of these type of hot metal we need cutter having sharp
edge which cuts profile rapidly only in one pass.
 Cooling bed: For cooling of hot profile cooling bed is required, which
has length same that of profile which is required.

7
  Pusher blade: Pusher blade is used to push profile having required
length from cooling bed to collection bed. At collection bed profiles are cooled
at atmospheric temperature by natural heat transfer.

 Profile projector: It is not a part of mill, but very important for completion of
process. It is used for inspection purpose of profile section. Here profile section is
enlarged ten times of actual with the help of projector and check with the original
sectional drawing.

8
 CHAPTER-3

3.1 PROFILE HOT ROLLING PROCESS

The profile hot rolling process is divided in to two processes. First process is
named manufacturing of rolls and second, which is performed on mill.

3.1.1 Manufacturing of the rolls

This process is considered as pre-rolling process. This process plays very
important role, because the complicate profile shape is grooved first on rolls and
afterward by pressing steel rod between rolls, the required profile is obtained.
This process contains other processes like template making, profiling of grinding
wheel, profiling of rolls and at last nitriding process for rolls.
First of all, the profile drawing, which is required, is drawn on brass plate
having 2 mm thickness for making templates having its dimensions five times
actual. With the help of jig saw machine, the drawing on brass plate is cut. This
cut part of brass plate is called templates and the process is called template
making.
After the template making process, the grinding wheel is loaded on the
cylindrical grinding machine and the template is fixed on diaform machine
template bed which is connected with grinding machine. Then the tracer tool, on
diaform machine, is moved on the periphery of template and with the help of
universal diamond dresser, fitted on the machine bed, the grinding wheel is
dressed till diamond stops touching the wheel. This process is repeated till the full
wheel is dressed in respect to template. This process is called profiling of grinding
wheel. Rolls are cut from H-13 bars of required diameter. On the lathe machine,
machining of is started as per the dimensions of the drawing, which is in the shape

9
 of the rough profiled roll but it is not be perfect as per the drawing. It has shape
very near to profile drawing. This rough profiled roll is then mounted on the
mandrel of grinding machine & with the help of grinding wheel which have been
profiled, grinds the roll. Afterward for the hardening purpose, nitriding has been
done for rolls
Nitriding: Alloying elements in steels such as aluminium, chromium,
vanadium and molybdenum would form very hard nitrides when they come
contact with nitrogen. This is made use of in the process of nitriding where alloy
steels are case hardened without any quenching process. The nitriding
temperatures are in the range of 500oC to 575oC. The steels which are already
quenched and tempered are put in a sealed container with ammonia gas and then
heated to the 8 to 40 hrs for getting necessary case depths. The nitrogen forms
complex nitrides with the alloying elements, whose depth depends on nitriding
time.
Because of the lower temperatures employed in nitriding, there are less
possibilities of distortion and deformation than any other case hardening process.
Also this process increases the wear resistance and fatigue life greatly. Further, no
finish machining is required.

Now after nitriding process rolls are ready for rolling process on mill.

3.1.2 Working process of rolling mill

The process on mill is started with loading of raw material coil on uncoiler. At
the time of loading raw material, first of all, the uncoiler has been made
horizontal. After loading it has been made vertical position. The coil end is pulled
up to straightening machine by the chain of the bar gripper on the winch drum,
provided on the straightening machine. With the help of portable hydraulic bar
straightener, the coil end has been made temporarily straight and has been fed to
online straightening unit. All vertical and horizontal rolls of online straightening
unit have been set for smooth feeding of coil in to it. Afterward the coil, which is

10
now converted into rod, has been fed to further line equipments like descaler,
brusher, healing element, etc.
The heating groups have been switched on and its current is increased slowly
in steps for all the three zones, at the same time the speed of the bar has been
increased slowly till the bar gets red hot.

11
 When the rolls, after nitriding process, get cooled, have been sent to mill
stands. The top and bottom assemblies are made fix in all four mill stands. The
gap between top and bottom assemblies has been kept different in all mill stands.
The gap is in decreasing order in subsequence mill stand. At the exit of each mill
stand, the out coming section is measured and then it is passed to next mill stand.

As soon as the rolling gets set for o.k., with the help of shear unit, the sample
bar of 1 m length is cut and quenched in water. The quenched sample is measured
as per the final profile dimension and if any minor deviation is observed then it is
corrected on the mill. Then the slice about 10 mm thickness is cut from sample
and then on profile projector, the sample projection is compared by matching it
with 10 times drawing of required profile.

12
 The cutting profiles of same length, which are cut by shear, are pushed to
cooling bed. When the profile is cut on cooling bed, with the help of pusher blade
the profile is removed from cooling bed. Then the whole bunch of profiles is sent
for dispatch.

13
 CHAPTER–4

4.1 APPLICATIONS
The profile mill provides a variety of profiles like rings for truck wheels, nose
bars for textile machines, pole shoe for automotive starters, grouser tips for earth
moving vehicles, and others for sickles, computer peripherals, turbine blades,
cutting tools, taper washers, ring gears, gear rings, etc. Its range finds wide
application in a variety of sectors such as the electronic, mechanical, automobile
and electrical industries, etc. The list is end less and growing fast. Furthermore,
we can design any type of complicated profile shape to suit any specified
requirement.
In different industries or sectors, which type of complicated profile shapes are
used and in which manner and how its manufacturing differs from conventional
processes are described as follow:
 Agriculture sector
• Sickles

• Coffee Choppers

The manufacture of hot rolled sections for various agricultural implements such
as Sickles & Coffee Choppers. Sickles are used for harvesting as well as weeding

14
 or grass cutting operation & have conventionally been manufactured by the
village smiths.

Sickles

The sickles that are hand forged by the village smiths have following
disadvantages:

• No guarantee in the quality of steel as most of the time it is made from scrap.
• Sickles made by hand forging are imbalanced due to non-uniformity of the
section that leads to non-uniform moment of inertia. This leads to uneven wearing of
the sickle blade as well as more fatigue to those using such sickles.
• On account of the above reason, the sickle blade needs re-sharpening very
often.
• Hand forged sickles cannot be manufactured on a mass production basis to
cater to huge requirements.

Sickles made from hot rolled section manufactured by us have following

advantages:

• The hot rolled sections are supplied in taper condition that avoids the
necessity to forge & form. The manufacturing process does not involve forging
operation by simple press working & bending.
• We offer these sections in a specific medium carbon grade that can be
properly heat-treated to give long life to the sickles.

15
• Due to a uniformly produced taper section, the sickle blade has an uniform
moment of inertia that reduces the fatigue while using such sickles and at the same
time makes the sickle self sharpening.
• Sickles made from such hot rolled taper sections can be produced on a mass
production basis.
• Various export requirements for sickles clearly indicate use of hot rolled
section instead of hand forged one.
• When produced on a mass production basis, the cost per sickle can be
considerably brought down.

Similarly the coffee chopper (tool used for cutting coffee plants) produced
from a hot rolled section also offer the same advantages to its users.

 Automotive industries
• Door Hinges
• Pole Shoes
• Lock Rings / Flanges / Side Rings / Advance Bands
• Flywheel Ring Gears
• Serrated Angles
• Special T

16
car door hinges car door hinges starter motor ring gear

The Profiles mill has an expertise in manufacturing hot rolled steel sections for
various automotive applications such as:

• Door hinges for cars,

• Pole shoe sections for starter motors & dynamos,
• Rectangular & trapezoidal sections for flywheel ring gears / starter ring gears,
sections for lock rings / side rings / flanges / advance bands for wheel rims of
trucks, buses & forklifts
• Serrated angles for steps of buses & trains,
• Special T sections for pass-way interconnection of buses,

 Construction industries

• Ornamental Grills
• Hand Railings
• Gratings
• T for joining chequered plate
• Serrated T's
• Chamfers
• Half Ovals

17
 Rallings Grills Rallings

The profile mill can manufacture hot rolled sections for various architectural
applications such as ornamental grills, hand railings, gratings, T sections for
joining chequered plates, serrated Ts for staircases etc. Use of such sections for
grills, railings & gratings provide an edge over the conventional flats or squares
that are used for fabricating these items.

In the construction industry, concrete has been used effectively for centuries
for all types of buildings and conditions. Buildings are being built at site using
concrete structures such as columns & beams and recently many builders to
drastically reduce the total construction time have started using pre-cast
structures.

The pre-cast structures are made off the site by using suitable molds. The
profiles division manufactures two types of hot rolled sections that are used in
these pre-cast molds. One of the sections is an isosceles triangle that is available
in different sizes and is called as chamfer. These chamfers are fitted into the
corners of the molds of the pre-cast structures so as to obtain a chamfered edge
along the length of the pre-cast column or beam. On account of such chamfered
edges (no corner), the question of corner breakage does not arise.

Another section that is used in the pre-cast molds is called as a half oval
section. This section that is used to obtain flutes on decorative pillars, is available
in a standard length of 4 meters, in various widths and sizes.

 Defense sector

18
 • Gun Barrel

The profile mill has the capability to manufacture various intricate sections that
can be used for manufacturing various ammunition parts such as barrels of guns
and pistols. The barrel sections can be supplied as per specifications & drawings.
The basic hot rolled barrel section can be further drilled / machined to make the
final barrel of a handgun or a pistol. Near net shape sections for other
ammunition parts such as triggers can also be supplied that will require minimum
machining to get the final shape.

 Cutting Tools sector

• Wood Chisel. Paring Tools, Rasp & Planer

• Engineers' Steel Files & Rasps
• Hot rolled preshapes for Clicking knives

Wood chisel Engineers steel files

19
 Hot rolled sections are supplied for various cutting tool applications such as
cutting tool shanks, chisels, rasps, & planers for wood crafting and sections for
engineers steel files & rasps.

 Earth Moving vehicle industries

• Grouser Bars / Lug Bars for rebuilding track shoes

Earthmoving equipment such as Dozers and Excavators plays an important

role in the mining and construction industry. These equipment have tracked
chains for moving into the difficult terrains such as sandy deserts, marshy lands,
rocky mines, ice and many others. Tracked vehicles are also used in the defense
sector as warfare tanks.

The traction chains of these vehicles are called as track chains or grouser
chains. These chains are made of number of track shoes or plates or grouser shoes
or plates that form part of the undercarriage. These undercarriages are directly
exposed to the terrain and therefore get worn out. Depending upon the terrain,
these chains have a discard life ranging from 2000 to 4000 hours of operation.

20
 The replacement of worn out grouser chains is a very costly & painful affair,
as the whole chain has to be discarded mostly on account of the wearing of the
shoe tips and not the whole plate. In order to avoid such a costly changeover,
people have developed various methods of re-furbishing the worn out chains that
consist of rebuilding the grouser tip and the mounting holes. The re-furbished
track chain can provide at-least 50% life of the new one that too at a nominal cost.

The profiles mill can manufacture hot rolled grouser bars or tips suitable for
various models and make of dozers & excavators in special steel grade so as to
ensure better weld ability, harden ability and life of rebuilt shoes. The grouser
bar profile is designed to match the original worn out grousers and the 45-degree
chamfer at the bottom is provided to facilitate proper welding on the worn out
grouser.

These bars are available in various cross sections suitable for various dozer &
excavator models in 3 to 5.8 meter lengths, which can be cut to the required
length as per the width of the grouser shoe.

For builders & contractors who have a fleet of dozers & excavators and whose
track machines are operating with worn out grousers, causing loss in traction, time
and increased fuel bills, we have our grouser bars to offer to restore the tracked
shoes. It's an easy job that any welder can do and is the quickest and most
economical means of rebuilding grouser/track shoes.

 Horse shoe

21
 Tamed horses have traditionally being using metallic shoes to protect their
hoofs from injury due to exposure to hard rocky terrains or the modern roads.

Conventionally, horse shoes are manufactured by village smiths by hand

forging of steel bars. This process of manufacturing horse shoes is very tedious
and left to the skill of the smith.

In today's modern day life where horses are used more for races than for
transportation, the shoe changing is very frequent and the requirement is very
large. It is therefore difficult for the village smiths to cater to such a huge demand
and this leads to the development of a modern process for manufacturing of
horseshoes on a mass production basis. To cater to the requirements of such
modern horseshoe manufacturers, the profiles division has developed hot rolled
sections of various shapes and sizes that are suitable for manufacturing
horseshoes suitable for various terrains, geographic locations, climatic conditions
and nature of work of the horses.

 Textile Machinery

The profile mill caters to the requirement of various textile machinery

manufacturers by sections, supplying them custom made hot rolled sections, cold

22
drawn hot rolled sections, cold drawn sections and hot rolled pre-shapes for
further cold drawing for textile machine parts such as:

• Nore bar/Apron bar for ring frame machines

• Condenser support bar
• Lappet rail
• Balance weight
• D bars
• Rod weighing bars

 Miscellaneous

The profiles division can manufacture hot rolled steel sections for various other
end users such as:

• Springs
• Taper washers
• Locks and Keys
• Sliding rails for partitions
• Gibson ring and retaining rings

23
• Retched Paul for pneumatic concrete breakers
• D sections for two wheeler kicks/gear shifters
• Unequal angles with square edges for tops of steel tables
• Knife-edge & bearing sections for mechanical weighing machines

It can also manufacture hot rolled pre-shapes for further cold drawing or
machining for various end products/applications such as:

• Retched Paul for pneumatic concrete breakers

• Machine tool guide ways
• Linear motion guide ways
• Steam turbine blades
• Gear shifting sliding keys
• Bearing steel flats
• Sections for sprays
• Half round pipe casing used in oil exploration

4.2ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

 Advantages

• Reduced scaling on account of electrical heating.

• Better dimensional tolerances due to reduced scaling.
• Consistency in dimensions due to continuous rolling.
• Reduced material wastage on account of better tolerances.
• Reduced cost of machining operations and saving in time.

 Disadvantages

• Hollow profiles can not be manufactured.

24
 • The profiles of more than 50 mm width can not be rolled.
• More care should be taken during whole operation, because whole process
is gone through at very high temperature.
• Primary cost is high.
• Occupy large floor area.
• Whole process would be done accurately, because small error in
dimension makes high material waste.

CONCLUSION

Since any industry is a profit generating mechanism, the general

attitude is to select the most economic method.

In our case, if we want to make complicated sectional profile, then we

will have to choose the Profile Hot Rolling Mill. Because, this operation
with any other mill is not possible and if it is possible, it will take more time
& also we will never find fine surface as with the help of the Profile mill.

In other way, if we want either to make simple shaped sectional

profile or to change dimension of plate or sheet, conventional rolling mill

25
will be used. Because, for these types of operation less energy consumption
is required.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) http://www.tataprofiles.com/

2) http://www.falcispa.com/

3) Working Instruction manual of Profile department of Tata CRM-

Sisodara
4) “Elements of Workshop Technology vol: 1 (Manufacturing
processes)” by Hajra Choudhury.

26
27