Thermal behaviour of rollers during the rolling process

A numerical study is developed to determine the two-dimensional temperature distribution in the rollers of a rolling mill. The studied rolling mill consists of two hollow cylinders receiving heat in contact with the workpiece and cooled by convection on its external and internal surfaces. The study is carried out in steady regime and is focused in the thermal behaviour of a single cylinder of the rolling machine. A hollow cylinder is considered, receiving a heat flux on a portion of its external surface and being cooled on the remainder. The internal surface of the cylinder is also cooled by a fluid flow. In a first stage, the model is validated by comparison with an analytical solution available in the literature for a solid cylinder. Then, the thermal behaviour as a function of the rotational velocity of the cylinder and the conditions of heat exchange with the surrounding media is analysed. Important conclusions are deduced from this thermal study that can be of a great utility for the sizing of this type of rollers and the analysis of their mechanical behaviour.