Process and apparatus for improving cold rollability and/or strip annealability of metals and metal alloys
AssigneeOlin Corporation
InventorsBrian Mravic, Eugene Shapiro
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Selective heating of edge and near-edge portions of a strip material is used to increase the ductility of the strip material at these portions and to improve the cold rollability and/or strip annealability of the strip material. The selective heating may be performed either by radiant heating or by induction heating.
Claims26
Process for improving the cold rollability of a strip material, said process comprising:
- providing a metal or metal alloy strip material having an initial thickness;
- cold working said strip material to obtain a desired reduction in said thickness;
- selectively heating edge and near-edge portions of said material without significantly annealing the bulk of said strip material to increase the ductility of the material at said portions and the amount of reduction that can be taken before the onset of significant edge cracking;
- and
- further cold working said strip material,
- whereby said increased ductility at said portions and amount of reduction that can be taken permit the total reduction taken in said strip material before full annealing is required to be maximized.
Process for enhancing the strip annealability of a strip material in a cold worked condition, said process comprising:
- providing a metal or metal alloy strip material having an initial thickness;
- cold working said material to obtain a desired reduction in said thickness;
- providing means for strip annealing said material;
- and
- passing said material through said strip annealing means, wherein the improvement comprises:
- selectively heating edge and near-edge portions of said material without significantly annealing the bulk of said strip material prior to said material being passed through said strip annealing means to increase the ductility of said portions and to increase said strip annealability by reducing the possibility of strip fracture as a result of the propagation of edge cracks.
An apparatus for improving cold rollability of a metal or metal alloy strip material having an initial thickness, said apparatus comprising:
- first means for cold working said strip material to obtain a desired reduction in said thickness;
- second means for further cold working said strip material;
- and
- means for maximizing the total reduction that can be taken in said strip material before full annealing is required, said maximizing means comprising means for selectively heating edge and near-edge portions of said material without significantly annealing the bulk of said material prior to said material being passed to said second cold working means, said selective heating means increasing the ductility of the material at said
- portions and the amount of reduction that can be taken before the onset of significant edge cracking.
An apparatus for enhancing strip annealability of a metal or metal alloy strip material having an initial thickness in a cold worked condition, said apparatus comprising:
- means for cold working said material to obtain a desired reduction in said thickness;
- means for strip annealing said material;
- and
- means for selectively heating edge and near-edge portions of said material without significantly annealing the bulk of said material prior to said material passing into said strip annealing means to increase the ductility of said portions and to increase said strip annealability by reducing the possibility of strip fracture as a result of the propagation of edge cracks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.