Industrial application of the HCX-MILL to hot strip mills

To meet recent trends in the industry toward harder and thinner products, mill operators are now focusing particular attention to the preferential usage of the delivery stands for the control of strip shape. Consequently, it has become necessary to utilize the entry stands for the control of strip crown. The 6-high High Crown Control Mill (HC-MILL) is well known for its excellent crown control capabilities; however, it is not particularly useful as an entry stand mill, since restrictions on the use of small-diameter work rolls would result in an excessively bulky mill stand. In order to realize the potential ofthe HC-MILL in a 4-high mill design, we have successfully developed the High Crown Control Work Roll Cross Mill (HCX-MILL), in which the work rolls are at cross angle to the backup rolls for greater control over strip crown. The first commercial HCX-MILL, which was installed in the finishing train of the No. 2 hot strip mill at Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. 's Kure Works, began operation in August 1994. The crown control capabilities of this mill, are shown to be excellent.