Transfer of aqueous oil free lubricants into stee cold rolling practice

ongoing

The pilot and demonstration project RollOilFree II aims to test OFLs under industrial conditions for the cold rolling of packaging steels and steels for the automotive industry, as well as to demonstrate the subsequent processability of the rolled steels down to the coated end product. In RollOilFree II, a systematic optimisation and adaptation of oil-free lubricants is carried out according to the specific requirements for cold rolling of packaging and automotive steels. Industry related rolling tests allowing the evaluation of long-term and process relevant characteristics as well as the evaluation of plant and potential monitoring and handling methods will be carried out. This will be aided by a mathematic model of the cold rolling with OFLs. Moreover, the impact of the new lubricant on subsequent processes (cleaning, annealing, temper-rolling and coating) will be examined. Finally, care and environmental aspects will be covered. Based on these results, OFL composition will be continuously optimised from a technical and ecological point of view with the final goal of a successful transfer of oil-free lubricants into the industrial standard. The main objectives are summarised: • Adaptation and optimisation of OFLs to the specific cold rolling requirements (for the automobile and packaging industries). • Providing long-term stability of the adapted OFLs. • Adaptation of the rolling process engineering to the OFLs specific characteristics. • Development of online monitoring for OFLs. • Guaranty of trouble-free further processing in the subsequent production steps. • Providing of adapted technologies regarding OFL care, recycling and disposal. • Providing guidelines for the successful transfer of OFL to the industrial standard and cost estimation.