FEM Analysis of Roller Leveling for Plate

Abstract

At present, leveling process has been operated depending on experience and intuition of the expert. On the other hand, optimization of leveling condition has been required, and it is urgent to clarify the mechanism of leveling process. Leveling process is divided into the stable and unstable zone, and the mechanism of the two leveling zone are examined. However, the study is carried only experimentally but not numerically. In this paper, the application method of commercial FEM software is clarified and the possibility of leveling plate in the unstable zone is studied. The following results are obtained.
1) To apply the commercial FEM software, it is necessary to take into consideration of elastic deformation of roller leveler, and work-hardening characteristic of material to simulate the leveling process correctly.
2) It is confirmed that the variation of plate curvature in the unstable zone can be suppressed by carrying out dynamic control of leveling rolls, from which the possibility of leveling plate in unstable zone is found out.