Optimizing the Rolling Process of Lightweight Materials

Conventional rolling is a plastic deformation process that uses compression between two rolls to reduce material thickness and produce sheet/plane geometries. This deformation process modifies the material structure by generating texture, reducing the grain size, and strengthening the material. The rolling process can enhance the strength and hardness of lightweight materials while still preserving their inherent lightness. Lightweight metals like magnesium alloys tend to lack mechanical strength and hardness in load-bearing applications. The general rolling process is controlled by the thickness reduction, velocity of the rolls, and temperature. When held at a constant thickness reduction, each pass through the rolls introduces an increase in strain hardening, which could ultimately result in cracking, spallation, and other defects. This study is designed to optimize the rolling process by evaluating the effects of the strain rate, rather than the thickness reduction, as a process control parameter.