Analysis of temperature asymmetry of aluminum alloy thick plate during snake hot rolling

In order to study the temperature distribution of aluminum alloy thick plate during snake hot rolling, several coupled thermo-mechanical models using finite element method (FEM) were established. Effects of different factors on temperature distribution of the plate and the bending behavior due to temperature difference were analyzed. Temperature asymmetry coefficient was defined in this study. The results show that the temperature distribution of plate is asymmetrical and the temperature of the lower surface is higher than the upper surface during snake hot rolling, in which the maximum α can gd reach 58 °C/m. The asymmetric coefficient was increased with the increase of rolling velocity and speed ratio. Different ways of heat exchange play different roles in the temperature distribution. Friction heat and deformation heat play dominant role in hot rolling process and pass interval time and their weight influences were 47 and 69 %, respectively. The bending curvature is increased with the increase of temperature difference and pass reduction and decreased dramatically with the increase of initial thickness. The FEM results agree well with experimental results.