FEM Simulation On Continuous Rolling Process Of Seamless Steel Tube And The Study On Post Processing

Pipe continuous rolling process is a key procedure in hot-rolling production of seamless steel tube and it is a multi-stand pass rolling process with the typical characteristics of nonlinear, thermal-mechanical coupling, which directly affect the subsequent processing and final product size precision. This paper takes the tubular billet (218mm × 14.38mm) continuous rolling process of a factory as research object, aiming to optimize pass parameters and improve dimensional precision of steel pipe after continuous rolling. According to the field data of production, a three-dimensional thermal-mechanical finite element model is established to simulate the actual rolling process by using the nonlinear finite element simulation software ABAQUS, which have an important significance in working out more reasonable continuous rolling process. The main works and progress are shown as follows:(1) According to typical material tubular billet rolled by a steel plant, initial material parameters are provided for FEM simulation by going through relevant materials, gaining mechanical parameters and thermal physical properties parameters and dealing with it.(2) Transforming the engineer model into a numerical model based on the field data of production, and then establish a three-dimensional thermo mechanical finite element model to simulate the actual rolling process with software ABAQUS. After finished the simulation calculation, simulation process is verified rationally, reliably by comparing the simulation results with the field data.(3) The post processing methods of FEM software ABAQUS are studied on. In the light of the problem to calculate steel pipe wall thickness after deformation, a new method of high precision calculation of wall thickness is put forward, extraction of element nodes coordinates and automatic calculation of wall thickness are realized at any time after deformation by using Python language to write script.(4) Based on the simulation result, the equivalent stress field, equivalent strain field, temperature field, laws of metal flowing is deeply researched in the continuous rolling process of seamless steel tube. According to the pipe deformation result with different groove parameters, the reason why crack and so generate is analyzed, which provide guidance for the optimization of the pass parameters.(5) In order to improve wall thickness uniformity, the pass control parameters are optimized adjustment, wall thickness distribution are compared at different pass parameters after continuous rolling process of seamless steel tube, which provide reference ideas and theoretical basis for planning continuous rolling process of seamless steel tube.