Open Coil Box Annealed Steel Cooling Analysis
Steel sheet is used for many products. Two common uses are in the production of household appliances and automotive body panels. Typically, the steel is formed to a desired thickness and then external coatings are applied. First a hot then a cold rolling process forms the steel sheet used for these applications. For handling convenience, the sheet metal is wrapped in a cylindrical coil. The term open coil refers to steel sheet that is wound into a coil with intertwined wire separating each successive wrap. The coil separation allows gas to circulate between the sheets during annealing. A gas composed of 8% hydrogen and 92% nitrogen is used to reduce the carbon content of the steel, which allows better coating adhesion. After annealing, the coil is cooled in the box furnace and then set on a cooling bed where cooling of the coil is done by forced convection. A computer model was developed to calculate the temperature distribution in the open coil during convection cooling. A finite difference model, based on the energy balance between air and steel gave the governing equations for the computer program. The program was used to calculate the temperature distribution in the coil over time.
Advisor:Dr. Dipo Onipede Jr.; Dr. Richard S. Dougall; Dr. Patrick S. Smolinski
School:University of Pittsburgh
School Location:USA - Pennsylvania
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:09/03/2003