Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Control Science and Engineering

Volume 2016, Article ID 4192186, 9 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/4192186

Research Article
Development of Intermediate Cooling Technology and
Its Control for Two-Stand Plate Rolling

Fei Zhang,1,2 Wei Yu,3 and Tao Liu3

1
National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Rolling Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing,
Beijing 100083, China
2
School of Electrical, Computer & Telecommunications Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
3
Engineering Research Institute, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Fei Zhang; zhfeicn@gmail.com

Received 4 May 2016; Revised 21 October 2016; Accepted 10 November 2016

Academic Editor: M. Junaid Khan

Copyright © 2016 Fei Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In a plate rolling production line, thermomechanically controlled processing is critical for plate quality. In this paper, a set of
intermediate cooling equipment of a two-stand plate mill with super density nozzles, medium pressure, and small flow is developed.
Based on a simplified dynamic model, a cooling control scheme with combined feedforward, feedback, and adaptive algorithms is
put forward. The new controlled rolling process and the highly efficient control system improve the controlled rolling efficiency by
an average of 17.66%. The proposed intermediate cooling system can also effectively inhibit the growth of austenite grain, improve
the impact toughness and yield strength of Q345B steel plate, reduce the formation of secondary oxide scale on the plate surface
and the chromatic aberration of the plate surface, and greatly improve the surface quality of the steel plate.

1. Introduction of mixed grain structure which will affect the quality of

the products. Generally, the temperature holding process is
Thermomechanical control processing (TMCP) is a micro- completed by air cooling of swinging intermediate slab on
structural control technique combining controlled rolling roller table [5]. The cooling process of slab in the air is a
and controlled cooling. The mechanical properties intro- relatively slow process of temperature drop, which affects
duced to the steel through TMCP route are virtually equiv- the production efficiency. The production capacity of plate
alent to those obtained by heat treating conventionally rolled mill using controlled rolling generally decreases by 26–30%.
or forged steel. It can be optimized by control of phase Therefore, improving the cooling efficiency and reducing
transformation of austenite with cooling technology during the holding time are an important means to improve the
or after hot rolling process [1, 2]. By appropriate choice of production efficiency and comprehensive properties of the
deformation temperature and strain rate, the strength of steel plate [6, 7]. One of the effective ways is the water cooling
can be increased. The strength of TMCP steel is higher than in rolling process, namely, the intermediate cooling (IC)
of normalized steel of the same composition [3, 4]. Thus, process.
TMCP steel has a leaner composition (lower alloy content) IC technology is to install cooling equipment between
than conventional normalized steel of the same strength. the roughing mill (RM) and the finishing mill (FM) of a
Controlled rolling and controlled cooling technology is two-stand plate production line to reduce holding time and
widely used in medium and heavy plate production and plays increase production capacity. Research shows that the water
an important role in the performance of the products on the cooling of intermediate slab in temperature holding process
side. But, during controlled rolling process, the rolling in the can reduce holding time and improve the rolling efficiency
temperature range of partial recrystallization region between under the premise that no mechanical properties of the prod-
the recrystallization and nonrecrystallization zone must be ucts would be reduced [8–11]. But, before finishing rolling, the
stopped for temperature holding to avoid the appearance rereddening process of intermediate slab should be finished
2 Journal of Control Science and Engineering

Roughing mill Finishing mill

Pyrometer Pyrometer Pyrometer

Water
Air cooling
cooling
section
section

Figure 1: Schematic layout of the production line.

after water cooling to reduce the temperature gradient along

thickness direction and avoid affecting the rolling process
[12]. Experiments have proved that the temperature drop of
intermediate slab by water cooling during controlled rolling
can reduce 15–20% of the holding time and improve the
rolling efficiency to a certain degree [13]. Combined with the
actual situation of a plate mill with a roll width of 3000 mm,
we designed the water cooling equipment before the finishing
mill for rapidly reducing temperature of intermediate slab to
control finishing rolling temperature, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 2: Working intermediate cooling equipment.

2. Overview of Intermediate Cooling water to meet the requirements of the temperature and flow
2.1. Rolling Force Model. The IC section is located between for the cooling system when the plate is cooled and which
the RM and the FM, and the main components include six consists of a number of variable frequency drive pumps
groups of 650 mm spacing coolers. Basic parameters of the and high pressure pumps for water supply. Cooling water
IC technology and equipment are as follows. circulation system mainly consists of outside plant cooling
The thickness and width range of intermediate slab are towers, cooling ponds, and other components.
40–110 mm and 1600–2850 mm, respectively; the starting Medium pressure water passes through the water tank
temperature, the ending temperature, and the rereddening in the workshop after being filtered and then is assigned to
temperature of intermediate slabs are separately 1050–1030∘ C, every cooler. Water out of the coolers directly passes through
below 950∘ C, and 880–950∘ C; the roller spacing of roller table the trench of the IC section and then returns to the water
is 650 mm; the length of cooling zone is 3.9 m; the length of treatment system. Water distribution system consists of the
the longest intermediate slabs is 12 m; the pressure of cooling medium level water tank and the water distributor in the
water is 0.4 MPa; the distance between the centerline of RM workshop. The medium level water tank has steady flow,
and the centerline of finishing mill is 78 m, and the distance water buffer, and exhaust function. The main function of
between the centerline of RM and the centerline of the first the water distributor is to evenly distribute the water in the
group of coolers is 26.345 m; the cooling mode is multipur- medium level water tank to each cooler, so as to realize the
pose interrupt cooling (MULPIC) of one pass or swing; the uniform cooling of the steel plate. The side masking system
cooling water is turbid circulating water. Cooling product can automatically adjust the horizontal water spraying of the
mainly includes high-strength low-alloy intermediate slabs cooling manifold according to the different widths of the
such as shipbuilding plate and structural plate. steel plate to improve the control precision of the horizontal
temperature of the steel plate.
The side masking system can improve the cooling effi-
2.2. Equipment. IC equipment comprises filtration system,
ciency and capacity of cooling water and improve the cooling
water supply pipe, flow regulation device, spraying and cool-
uniformity of steel plate. The blowing system can guarantee
ing device, measuring instruments, and automatic control
plate surface cleaning when the plate enters and leaves the
system. The working IC equipment is shown in Figure 2.
cooling zone, improve the surface quality of steel plate, and
Mechanical system is the main equipment of accelerated
improve the detection accuracy of the plate temperature.
cooling after rolling system and is the basis of accelerated
cooling. The mechanical system primarily consists of the
following subsystems: water supply and water recycling sys- 2.3. Technological Process. The most basic type of IC includes
tem, water distribution system, high-density laminar system, recrystallization type controlled rolling, unrecrystallization
edge masking system, side spray system, and front and rear type control rolling, and (𝛼 + 𝛽) two-phase region type
blowing system. The main part of the water supply system controlled rolling. In the actual production process, engineers
is the pumping system, whose task is to provide cooling generally take the combination of the above two or three basic
Journal of Control Science and Engineering 3

types of controlled rolling based on the rolling equipment The surface temperature profile 𝑇 of a plate in the cooling
capacity, the product performance requirements, and the section can be described as a function of run-out time z [14]:
cost-benefit analysis. Adopting TMCP mode from the high
temperature recrystallization type controlled rolling to unre-
crystallization type controlled rolling or (𝛼 + 𝛽) two-phase 𝑇 = 𝑈𝑤 + (𝑇𝑒 − 𝑈𝑤 ) ⋅ 𝑒−𝑃𝑧 , (1)
region type controlled rolling, on the one hand, can avoid
rolling in the austenite recrystallization zone and prevent the
mixed crystal austenite and, on the other hand, can change where 𝑈𝑤 and 𝑇𝑒 represent environment temperature and
the traditional air-cooled temperature holding and reduce entry temperature, respectively. And 𝑃 is a model coefficient,
holding time and, in addition, can relieve the production which is determined by the plate thickness, entry speed, heat
capacity pressure caused by the short distance of roller table transfer, and conduction of the plate. The value of 𝑃 can be
between the RM and the FM. calculated as [14]
The technological process is briefly described as follows.
𝑏1
Step 1. The intermediate slab enters the controlled cooling 𝑃= , (2)
zone after roughing rolling. (1/ (𝑎1 + 𝑎2 ) 𝐹 + ℎ/𝑘1 𝑏2 ) 𝑏2 ℎ𝑘2

Step 2. Determine the cooling scheme according to the

measured temperature and the calculated thickness of the where 𝑏1 is the thermal conduction coefficient and 𝑏2 is
intermediate slab. the heat conduction coefficient. They are determined by
empirical curves. The empirical parameters 𝑘1 and 𝑘2 are
Step 3. When the intermediate slab enters the cooling zone, constant, and ℎ is the thickness of the plate. The heat exchange
the front blowing system is turned on to prevent the cooling coefficients 𝑎1 and 𝑎2 are for the upper and lower surface of
water from returning along the slab surface and affecting the the slab, respectively. These two factors are estimated with
normal work of measurement instruments and sensors when adaptive genetic algorithm. 𝐹 is a coefficient depending on
intermediate slab is being cooled in the controlled cooling water tank pressure, water temperature, and plate speed. Its
zone. value is determined using experimental data for specific plant
and operation conditions.
Step 4. The corresponding cooling manifolds are opened
according to the cooling scheme.
3.2. Feedforward Control Algorithm. There are typically 12
Step 5. After the intermediate slab has left the cooling zone, electric flow control valves and 12 pneumatic valves in the
the rear blowing system promptly blows away the residual cooling section, located in a number of cooling zones. The
water on the slab surface to prevent the warping head cooling zones and the valves in each zone are coded in a
phenomenon of the slab caused by uneven cooling of the systematic sequence in preparation for control.
upper and lower surface of the slab during finishing rolling Feedforward control is activated as soon as a plate enters
process. the cooling section. The plate is divided into segments
according to sampling time. As the sampling time is fixed, the
Step 6. After the intermediate slab has left the cooling length of each segment may vary with the plate speed. Based
zone, the rereddening is implemented to achieve uniform on model (1), the exit temperature of each segment can be
temperature of the intermediate slab, so as to prevent the predicted by the following formula in discrete form:
nonuniform microstructure defects.
𝑇 (𝑚, 𝑛) = 𝑈𝑤 + (𝑇𝑒 (𝑚, 𝑛) − 𝑈𝑤 ) ⋅ exp (−𝑃𝑚,𝑛 𝑧𝑚,𝑛 ) ,
𝑄 (3)
3. Temperature Model and Control Scheme 𝑃𝑚,𝑛 𝑧𝑚,𝑛 = ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧 (𝑖, 𝑛) ,
𝑖=𝑚
3.1. Rolling Force Model. The moving steel plate can be
considered as a mass flow that is conveyed along the cooling
roller table from the entry (roughing rolling) to the exit where 𝑄 is the total number of cooling zones. For the 𝑛th slab
(finishing rolling). Over this period of time, the steel plate segment entering the mth subcooling zone, the environment
exchanges energy with the environment by convection and temperature 𝑈𝑤 and the entry temperature 𝑇𝑒 (𝑚, 𝑛) are
radiation. available from the sensors. The value of 𝑃 is calculated using
The entry and exit locations of a slab are defined as (2).
the geometrical boundary of the dynamic model of the For a given reference exit temperature 𝑇𝑟 , the objective
cooling process. Pyrometers are installed at the entry and exit of the feedforward control is to minimize the difference 𝑑
locations to provide temperature measurements. The whole between the predicted exit temperature 𝑇ℎ (𝑄, 𝑛) and 𝑇𝑟 :
cooling section is divided into 𝑄 subcooling zones, and each
intermediate slab is divided into 𝑛 segments. Each segment of
󵄨 󵄨
the plate is tracked by the controller in real time. 𝑑 = 󵄨󵄨󵄨𝑇ℎ (𝑄, 𝑛) − 𝑇𝑟 󵄨󵄨󵄨 . (4)
4 Journal of Control Science and Engineering

If 𝑇𝑆 is set to an expected exit temperature function and −

𝑇𝑆 (𝑄, 𝑛) is equal to 𝑇𝑟 , the control change can be determined Tr + U Tf
Controller Plant
by the following conversion: +
−
−
𝑇ℎ (𝑚, 𝑛) = 𝑈𝑤 + (𝑇𝑒 (𝑚, 𝑛) − 𝑈𝑤 ) K Adaptive ΔT
controller
𝑄 +
Prediction Tp
⋅ exp [− ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧 (𝑖, 𝑛)] ,
model
𝑖=𝑚
(5)
𝑇𝑆 (𝑚, 𝑛) = 𝑈𝑤 + (𝑇𝑒 (𝑚, 𝑛) − 𝑈𝑤 )
Figure 3: Block diagram of adaptive control scheme.
𝑄
⋅ exp [− ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧𝑆 (𝑖, 𝑛)] ,
𝑖=𝑚
a correction factor 𝐾 is introduced to fine-tune the value of 𝑃
where 𝑧𝑆 is the run-out time that is determined such that in model (3) as follows:
𝑇𝑆 (𝑄, 𝑛) is equal to 𝑇𝑟 . From (5),
𝑇𝑤 (𝑚, 𝑛) = 𝑇𝑢 + (𝑇𝑒 (𝑚, 𝑛) − 𝑇𝑢 )
𝑄
𝑇ℎ − 𝑈𝑤 𝑄 (12)
= exp [− ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧 (𝑖, 𝑛)] , (6)
𝑇𝑒 − 𝑈𝑤 𝑖=𝑚
⋅ exp [− ∑ 𝐾 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧 (𝑖, 𝑛)] .
𝑖=𝑚
𝑄
𝑇𝑆 − 𝑈𝑤
= exp [− ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑛) 𝑧𝑆 (𝑖, 𝑛)] . (7) 𝐾(𝑚, 𝑛) is determined using the exit temperature mea-
𝑇𝑒 − 𝑈𝑤 𝑖=𝑚 surements according to the following adaptive rule:
Combining (6) with (7) yields 𝐾 (𝑚, 𝑛) = 𝐾 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙) + 𝐾𝑓 [𝐾𝑢 − 𝐾 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙)] , (13)
𝑇ℎ − 𝑈𝑤 󵄨󵄨 󵄨
ln = 󵄨󵄨󵄨𝑃𝑚,𝑛 𝑧𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑃𝑚,𝑛 𝑧𝑆𝑚,𝑛 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 . (8) where 𝐾𝑓 is a filter coefficient and 𝐾𝑢 is determined by
𝑇𝑆 − 𝑈𝑤
1
The change of run-out time is calculated as follows: 𝐾 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙) =
𝑃 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙) 𝑧 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙)
(14)
󵄨 󵄨 ln ((𝑇ℎ − 𝑈𝑤 ) / (𝑇𝑆 − 𝑈𝑤 )) 𝑇 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙) − 𝑈𝑤 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙)
Δ𝑧 = 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨𝑧𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑧𝑆𝑚,𝑛 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 = . (9) ⋅ ln 𝑤 .
𝑃𝑚,𝑛 𝑇𝑆 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙) − 𝑈𝑤 (𝑚, 𝑛 − 𝑙)

It is assumed that the slab speed V is constant within The initial value of 𝐾(𝑚, 𝑛) for the first plate segment has
a cooling zone, and the change in the activated cooling to be assigned by experience using previous data.
length of the cooling zone corresponding to the segment is The control scheme is illustrated in Figure 3, where 𝑇𝑟 is
determined as the reference temperature, 𝑇𝑓 is the feedback temperature, 𝑇𝑝
is the predicted temperature, and 𝑈 is the control value.
V ⋅ ln ((𝑇ℎ − 𝑈𝑤 ) / (𝑇𝑆 − 𝑈𝑤 ))
Δ𝐿 = V ⋅ Δ𝑧 = . (10)
𝑃𝑚,𝑛
4. Intermediate Cooling Control System
The change in cooling length is implemented by adjusting
4.1. System Structure. The control system structure is
the number and the flow of open cooling valves as the
designed as three levels. Level 0 is the field device level,
distance between valves is fixed.
which mainly includes sensors, valves, and A-C and D-C
digital drives. Level 1 (L1) is the basic automation level
3.3. Feedback Control Algorithm. As soon as the first segment which consists of programmable logic controllers (PLCs)
enters the finishing rolling zone, its temperature is measured and microcomputers that manage the functional logic of the
to start the feedback control. The measured temperature system, the single device control, and the interface with the
values replace the corresponding predicted values in the sensors. Level 2 (L2), also known as the process automation
feedforward control. level, consists of minicomputers that handle technological
For a measured cooling temperature function 𝑇𝑤 , the process and production targets and provide the user with
change of the cooling length Δ𝐿 𝑓 can be obtained as follows: tools for plant supervision and diagnostics. The applied
automation control system designed for the intermediate
V ⋅ ln ((𝑇𝑤 − 𝑈𝑤 ) / (𝑇𝑆 − 𝑈𝑤 )) control is shown in Figure 4.
Δ𝐿 𝑓 (𝑚, 𝑛) = . (11)
𝑃𝑚,𝑛
4.2. Process Automation Level (L2). Process automation level,
3.4. Adaptive Control Algorithm. In order to further improve mainly referring to the process computers and corresponding
the control accuracy with the measured cooling temperature, application programs, is responsible for setting calculation of
Journal of Control Science and Engineering 5

IC HMI RM HMI FM HMI

Ethernet

PLC PLC
IC PLC before IC after IC
roll table roll table
Profibus-DP

Remote IO station Remote IO station

M Drives M Drives

Meters Meters

Actuators Actuators

Figure 4: Block diagram of adaptive control scheme.

process model, sending set value (opening mode, steel plate (5) Communication with the Process Control Computers.
by the speed of cooling zone, and the regulating value of PLC receives commands from L2 and transmits the
the valve) to L1, and realizing the human-machine interface collected signals to L2.
(HMI) between L1 and L2. The communication between L2
computers or with other devices is via Ethernet.
L2 workflow is described as follows: in the roll bite of 4.4. Human-Machine Interface (HMI). HMI system is an
last roughing pass, HMI computer delivers PDI parameters important component of the IC control system as well as
like size, grade, and finishing temperature to L2 computer, the window of human-machine interaction. The function of
which calculates the preset values and sends the results to the control system is divided into manual, semiautomatic,
the PLC; when the head of intermediate slab reaches the and automatic modes which are selected by the operator.
entrance pyrometer, L2 computer calculates dynamic setting The operator sends command to the control system via HMI
based on starting temperature and then sends the regulated and, at the same time, monitors the running state of the
signal to the PLC; when intermediate slab passes through system. HMI system mainly completes the task of process
the exit pyrometer, L2 computer records the cooling flow, monitoring, display, report output, online parameter settings
slab speed, opening mode, ending temperature, rereddening (the speed parameters, the edge masking length of the slab
temperature, and so forth, for model self-learning of the next head and tail, the number of the nozzle groups, the flow of
intermediate slab of the same specification. the spay nozzles, etc.), model correction, fault alarm, trend
recording, pump station remote monitoring, and so on. The
4.3. Process Automation Level (L2). L1 uses Siemens PLC home screen is shown in Figure 5.
S7-300 as the master control station and Siemens ET200 as
remote IO station. L1 functions are as follows:
5. Application Effect
(1) The Head and Tail Tracking Control. PLC calculates
the position of intermediate slab according to signal 5.1. Production Efficiency Improvement. According to the
of the HMDs and other sensors. holding time of AC, the delivery time, the rolling time,
(2) Speed Control of Roller Table and Swing Control of and the number of intermediate slabs, it can be calcu-
Intermediate Slab Based on L2 Setup. lated that, under the premise of guaranteeing temperature
uniformity, IC can reduce cooling time and improve pro-
(3) Flow Control of the Cooler. The function module duction efficiency. By comparing the temperature fields of
regulates the opening position of the corresponding intermediate slabs of 40–110 mm under different process
electric control valve to control the water flow of the conditions, the changes of the theoretical value of production
cooler and open or close each group of manifolds efficiency improvement under the condition of single-slab
according to the model setup and tracking results. controlled rolling and multislab alternately controlled rolling
(4) Signal Measurement and Collection. PLC collects the are obtained. The production efficiencies of the single-slab IC
signal from the sensors for validity check and process and the multislab alternate IC are improved by 23–87% and
control. 49.1–14.5%, respectively, where the single-slab IC means to
6 Journal of Control Science and Engineering

Production efficiency improvement (%)

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Intermediate bloom thickness (mm)

Single-bloom theoretical value

Multibloom theoretical value
Single-bloom actual value
Multibloom actual value
Figure 5: Home screen of HMI. Figure 6: Comparison of the actual value and the theoretical value
on production efficiency improvement of intermediate cooling.

cool plates one by one and the multislab alternate IC refers

to the simultaneous cooling of a plurality of slabs.
The improvement value Δ𝜂SS of the production efficiency for rolling thickness from 76 mm to 46 mm. As can be seen,
of the single-slab IC is derived from IC effectively improved the production efficiency of control
rolling.
𝑡𝑆
Δ𝜂SS = ,
𝑡AC 5.2. Mechanical Property Improvement. In order to inves-
(15) tigate the differences of production mechanical properties
𝑡𝑆 = 𝑡AC − 𝑡WC ,
between IC and conventional AC, we tested the effects of
𝑡WC = 𝑡IC + 𝑡RT , two different processes on the mechanical properties of the
Q345B steel plate with the same specification. The mechanical
where 𝑡𝑆 is the saved time, 𝑡AC is the air cooling time, 𝑡WC is properties of the steel plate are shown in Table 1. The results
the water cooling time, 𝑡IC is the intermediate cooling time, show that IC can effectively improve impact energy and yield
and 𝑡RT is the rereddening time after IC. strength but cannot significantly change the elongation. This
The improvement value Δ𝜂MS of the production efficiency is because IC inhibits the recrystallization grain growth and
of the multislab alternate IC is derived from refines the austenite grains.
The microstructure at room temperature of Q345 steel
𝑡𝑆
Δ𝜂MS = , produced by high efficiency controlled rolling process is
𝑡AC shown in Figure 7. The surface microstructures of both sides
and the center are fine ferrite and pearlite. And the ferrite
𝑡𝑆 = 𝑡AC − 𝑡WC ,
grain size number at 1/4 thickness position of steel plate is
𝑡TAC (16) 10.4–10.6. The core microstructure is even smaller and is
𝑡AC = + 𝑡IN ∗ (𝑛 − 1) , accompanied by a small amount of banded structure. For
𝑛
Q345 steel which is produced by the conventional TMCP
𝑡TWC
𝑡WC = + 𝑡IN ∗ (𝑛 − 1) + 𝑡TN , process, the ferrite grain size number at 1/4 thickness position
𝑛 is only 8.6–9.1.
where 𝑡𝑆 is the saved time of each plate, 𝑡AC is the air cooling
time of each plate, 𝑡WC is the water cooling time of each plate, 5.3. Alloy Reduction Effect. Niobium (Nb) is an important
𝑡TWC is the total water cooling time, 𝑡IN is the slab interval microalloying element added in high-strength ship plate, and
time, 𝑡TN is the transport time, and 𝑛 is the number of slabs. it can effectively improve the strength and toughness of the
In actual production, because of the operation reason finished plate. But Nb is expensive, and high Nb content in
or the logical limit of the control system, the production the alloy leads to high cost. By using intermediate cooling,
efficiency improved by IC is certainly not as high as the material composition optimization, and process parameters
theoretical value. Compared with the conventional controlled optimization, Nb content gradually reduces from an average
rolling process, the IC process has higher production effi- of 200 ppm to about 120 ppm under the premise of ensuring
ciency. Figure 6 shows that the production efficiencies of the qualified and stable performance of high-strength ship
single-slab IC and multislab alternate IC are improved by up plate. Thus, the goal of reducing cost and improving efficiency
to 79.13% and 22.65%, respectively, for rolling thickness from is achieved. The yield strength distribution of the steel plate
63 mm to 25 mm and by 30.36% and 12.67%, respectively, before and after optimization is shown in Figure 8, from
 Journal of Control Science and Engineering

Table 1: Optimized input-to-hidden layer weights.

Number Rolling code Grade Thickness (mm) Yield strength (MPa) Tensile strength (MPa) Elongation (%) Cold bending Impact energy (J) Cooling mode
1 0926086 Q345B 16 375 555 28 Intact 147/128/113 IC
2 0922087 Q345B 16 385 540 29 Intact 151/164/146 IC
3 0922088 Q345B 16 390 545 30 Intact 159/134/173 IC
4 0922089 Q345B 16 345 535 29 Intact 102/72/72 AC
5 0922090 Q345B 16 350 525 32 Intact 119/92/92 AC
7
8 Journal of Control Science and Engineering

100 𝜇m 100 𝜇m

(a) Surface after AC (b) Core after AC

100 𝜇m 100 𝜇m

(c) Surface after IC (d) Core after IC

Figure 7: Microstructure of Q345 steel after AC and IC.

40
60
35
50 30
Rolling number
Rolling number

40 25

30 20
15
20
10
10 5
0 0
380 400 420 440 460 480 380 400 420 440 460 480 500
Yield strength (MPa) Yield strength (MPa)
(a) High Nb alloy (b) Low Nb alloy

Figure 8: Statistical histogram of yield strength of steel plate before and after optimization.

which it can be found that the peak interval is slightly and converts FeO into uniform and dense oxide scale with
increased and the fluctuation range is basically unchanged. strong adhesion composed of Fe3 O4 + Fe at low temperature.
Therefore, this kind of steel plate not only has smooth surface,
but also has good resistance to atmospheric corrosion in
5.4. Alloy Reduction Effect. As shown in Figure 9, IC and the process of transportation and storage, which has been
AC are compared in terms of surface quality. It can be seen validated by experiments [15].
that intermediate cooling, which reduces the formation of
secondary oxide scale on the plate surface and the chro-
matic aberration of the plate surface, greatly improves the 6. Conclusion
surface quality of the steel plate. Because of lowering the
surface temperature of the intermediate slab, intermediate Based on the analysis on IC process and equipment, a cooling
cooling reduces the formation of Fe2 O3 -based secondary control scheme with combined feedforward, feedback, and
iron oxide scale, promotes the formation of FeO and Fe3 O4 , adaptive algorithms is proposed. The IC control system
Journal of Control Science and Engineering 9

(a) Intermediate cooling (b) Air cooling

Figure 9: Comparison of surface qualities of steel plates under different cooling conditions.

realizing uniform cooling effectively shortens the cooling [4] K. Nishioka, “Market requirements of thermomechanically
time and improves the average controlled rolling efficiency processed steel for the 21st century,” Steel World, vol. 5, no. 1,
by 17.66%. pp. 61–67, 2000.
The intermediate cooling can effectively inhibit the [5] W. Huo, Study on Model to Control Intermediate Cooling Process
growth of austenite grain and improve the impact tough- for Plate Rolling, Northeast University, ShenYang, China, 2009.
ness and yield strength of Q345B steel plate. By using this [6] Y. Tian, S. Tang, B. Wang, Z. Wang, and G. Wang, “Development
mechanism, the alloy-reduced production of high-strength and industrial application of ultra-fast cooling technology,”
shipbuilding steel containing Nb and Q345B steel containing Science China Technological Sciences, vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 1566–
Als is carried out. 1571, 2012.
The formation of secondary oxide scale on the plate [7] R. Song, D. Ponge, and D. Raabe, “Influence of Mn content
surface and the chromatic aberration of the plate surface are on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine
reduced and the surface quality of the steel plate is greatly grained C-Mn steels,” ISIJ International, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 1721–
1726, 2005.
improved.
[8] S. W. Thompson, D. J. Vin Col, and G. Krauss, “Continuous
cooling transformations and microstructures in a low-carbon,
Competing Interests high-strength low-alloy plate steel,” Metallurgical Transactions
A, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1493–1507, 1990.
The authors declare that there are no competing interests [9] B. K. Panigrahi, “Processing of low carbon steel plate and hot
regarding the publication of this paper. strip—an overview,” Bulletin of Materials Science, vol. 24, no. 4,
pp. 361–371, 2001.
[10] B. Hutchinson, “Microstructure development during cooling of
Acknowledgments hot rolled steels,” Ironmaking & Steelmaking: Processes, Products
and Applications, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 145–151, 2001.
This work is partially supported by the National Natural
[11] A. Bakkaloğlu, “Effect of processing parameters on the
Science Foundation of China (51404021), Beijing Municipal microstructure and properties of an Nb microalloyed steel,”
Natural Science Foundation (3154035), and the Fundamental Materials Letters, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 263–272, 2002.
Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-TP-15- [12] L.-Y. Jiang, C.-J. Zhao, J.-H. Shi, G. Yuan, X.-Q. Wang, and Q.-
061A3). X. Huang, “Hot rolled strip re-reddening temperature changing
law during ultra-fast cooling,” Journal of Iron and Steel Research,
International, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 694–702, 2015.
References
[13] P. J. Heedman, S. P. Rutqvist, and J. Å. Sjostrom, “Controlled
[1] N. Shikanai, S. Mitao, and S. Endo, “Recent development rolling of plates with forced-water cooling during rolling,”
in microstructural control technologies through the thermo- Metals Technology, vol. 8, no. 9, pp. 352–360, 1981.
mechanical control process (TMCP) with JFE Steel’s high- [14] G. van Ditzhuijzen, “The controlled cooling of hot rolled strip:
performance plates,” JFE Technical Report 11, 2008. a combination of physical modeling, control problems and
practical adaption,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control,
[2] E. P. Silva, P. M. C. L. Pacheco, and M. A. Savi, “On the thermo-
vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 1060–1065, 1993.
mechanical coupling in austenite-martensite phase transforma-
tion related to the quenching process,” International Journal of [15] X.-J. Wang, X.-G. Li, T.-S. Yang, S.-B. Guo, J.-Y. Li, and C.-F.
Solids and Structures, vol. 41, no. 3-4, pp. 1139–1155, 2004. Dong, “Analysis of pitting corrosion of hot-rolled X70 micro-
alloyed steel plates in storage condition,” Journal of Iron and
[3] A. Kojima, M. Fujioka, M. Hoshino, G. Shigensato, M. Kaneko, Steel Research, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 26–44, 2010.
and M. Tanaka, “Progress of high performance steel plates,”
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Technical Report, no. 110, pp.
3–7, 2015.
 International Journal of

Rotating
Machinery

International Journal of
The Scientific
Engineering Distributed
Journal of
Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporation

World Journal
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Sensors
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Sensor Networks
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Journal of

Control Science
and Engineering

Advances in
Civil Engineering
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Submit your manuscripts at

http://www.hindawi.com

Journal of
Journal of Electrical and Computer
Robotics
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Engineering
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

VLSI Design
Advances in
OptoElectronics
International Journal of

International Journal of
Modelling &
Simulation
Aerospace
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Volume 2014
Navigation and
Observation
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014
in Engineering
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014
Engineering
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

International Journal of
International Journal of Antennas and Active and Passive Advances in
Chemical Engineering Propagation Electronic Components Shock and Vibration Acoustics and Vibration
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014