Hot Rolled Sheet Product Consistency-Coilbox

The demand for higher strength, lighter gauge materials by automotive designers, requires superior quality high strength steels from the manufacturer.

The modern hot strip mill for supplying these sheet and strip products has developed into a high capacity sophisticated metallurgical tool. Subtle changes in chemistry, temperature control or the rolling process can produce a variety of strengths, toughness or formability characteristics in the final product.

The Coilbox is an innovation in hot strip mill equipment that was developed at Stelco for the purpose of overcoming a fundamental hot rolling problem of heat loss from the product during the rolling process. This paper explains the difference between conventional and Coilbox methods of rolling. The benefits of improved surface, gauge control, shape control and metallurgical uniformity are also discussed which can result in a lower cost product for the original equipment manufacturer and component producer.