From trial and error to computer modelling of thermomechanical processing

Abstract

Since the 1950s, thermomechanical processing in the iron and steel industry has progressed from being skills based, using results from trial and error development work, to being science based, using computer modelling for process optimisation and control, and prediction of product properties. Some of the steps in this evolution are illustrated in the lecture, using hot rolling, as the main example, because The University of Sheffield has been involved in research in this field over the whole of the period. As basic understanding of the physics of the microstructural changes, and the speed of computing have increased, there has been a continuing trend for more complex models to be used for offline optimisation and for online control and property prediction. Such models are now accepted as an economically valuable tool for thermomechanical processing.