Multi-pass hot caliber rolling technology has significant advantages in producing continuous bars, which can be used as structural and connecting parts with essential applications. Simulation is an important tool for reproducing production processes. The simulation model must show the thermal state, microstructure, and hot workability during the bar’s high-temperature deformation process. However, such a multifunctional simulation model has not yet been reported. Here, a finite element simulation system for hot bar rolling is presented. It is based on the DEFORM-3D software and has been further developed. The most distinctive feature of the proposed simulation system is the integration of a material model that combines constitutive prediction with hot workability prediction. The constitutive model is formulated within an internal state variable framework, enabling the coupled prediction of microstructural evolution and stress response during multi-pass hot deformation. The hot workability prediction model is established based on a backpropagation neural network. By incorporating the microstructural state and deformation conditions as input variables, the model enables dynamic evaluation of hot workability throughout the deformation process. Based on the embedding of the material model, the simulation model can realize the coupled simulation of temperature, deformation, microstructure, and hot workability. Subsequently, the model is validated and applied based on an actual hot bar rolling production line. The simulation successfully predicts the surface cracks in rolled bars and provides insights into the underlying mechanisms of crack formation. The analysis indicates that the primary cause of cracking is the mismatch between the groove geometry and the workpiece geometry, which leads to localized deformation of the corner metal and a sharp temperature drop. Based on this understanding, a matching relationship between the groove geometry and the workpiece geometry is proposed, and the groove structure is optimized accordingly. After optimization, the surface quality pass rate of the rolled bars improved significantly, increasing from approximately 50.7% to about 95.3%. The simulation system can be applied to the hot bar rolling process and other multi-pass hot forming technologies. This is important for optimizing the production process and improving product quality.
Guo et al. (Fri,) studied this question.