Development of Energy-Efficient Rolling Modes for Asymmetrical Switch Rails at the Universal Rail and Beams Mill of JSC EVRAZ ZSMK

The shortcomings of the rolling process for asymmetrical switch-point rails, offered by the supplier of equipment for a modern universal rail and beam mill, necessitated the development of a new rolling process. Its key distinguishing features include: the use of an intensified reduction mode in the first duo-reversing reduction stand; a reduced number of passes in the second duo-reversing reduction stand; and the use of a diagonally split inclined rail gauge in this stand instead of a closed-type split rail gauge. The feasibility of this new rolling process was preliminarily substantiated by calculations of the rolling force and the stress-strain state of the metal in the roughing stand gauges, which were conducted using the QForm software package. The use of the QForm software package proved to be the optimal solution for reducing material costs for physical modeling and obtaining a large amount of data, which was correlated with the results of industrial experiments. The introduction of a new rolling mode for OR65 switch-point rails has reduced the rolling cycle by 22.5 seconds, resulting in a 39.8 t/h increase in mill productivity and a 0.5% reduction in finished rail rejection due to film defects.