Experimental measurements of load and strip profile in thin strip rolling

Experiments are described in which plasticine strips are rolled using elastomer rolls. Conditions cover the range from “thick strip” behaviour, in which roll elastic deformations are small, to “thin strip rolling”, in which elastic deformations of the rolls are very significant. Results provide the first direct experimental confirmation of the thin strip rolling model proposed by Fleck et al. (Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs B206 (1992) 119–131). Strip profiles clearly show a short region of reduction at the inlet to the bite and a central region which is relatively flat, in accord with the theory. The profiles do not however show a short region of reduction at the exit as predicted. For intermediate strip thicknesses the measured loads are in reasonable agreement with theory. For the thinnest strips, although the form of the dependence of load on reduction and inlet strip thickness is as predicted by theory, the measured loads are almost an order of magnitude lower than predicted. It is suggested that this is caused either by differences between the assumed rigid–perfectly plastic strip and the real constitutive behaviour of the plasticine, or by errors in treating the rolls as elastic half-spaces, an approximation which is accurate for industrial metal rolling, but is not good for the conditions of these experiments.