Design of pass schedule for austenite grain refinement in plate rolling of a plain carbon steel

In the present investigation, it was attempted to design the rolling pass schedule for a thick plate of 0.1C–1.5Mn–0.25Si with the objective of the austenite grain refinement. As the method of approach for the design, a mathematical modeling technique was proposed which consists of a recrystallization model and a flow stress model. The validity of this coupled model was examined by comparing with continuous and discontinuous compression tests under various conditions. The coupled model was incorporated with the finite element method to establish a systematic design methodology for the rolling pass schedule toward the refinement of austenite grains. Two pass schedules were obtained and discussed in the paper with regard to rolling pass time, average grain size, grain size deviation in thickness, etc.