If you search the Internet for what a cold-rolling mill is, one might be hard-pressed to find a description to relate to and understand. It is important to preface that what is involved in the process of rolling aluminum coil or strip is quite capital intensive, which explains why there are limited mills in the United States that flat roll aluminum coil.
When describing this process to people, the best example one can provide is a simple roll of aluminum foil. To roll aluminum foil that we purchase in our local supermarkets, a starting coil of .25 inches thick would be continuously rolled thinner in order to reach a final thickness of roughly .00063 inches, which is comparable to a strand of human hair. Who would have thought that everyday kitchen foil comes from the massively thick coils of aluminum we see being shipped around the country everyday?
A rolling mill is impressive, simply due to its sheer size and extreme rolling strength. Mills take delivery of heavy gauge aluminum coil and roll the coil to the tolerances and mechanical properties our customer requires. As you roll the aluminum thinner and thinner you begin to harden the aluminum and make it brittle. In order to prevent the aluminum from breaking, tearing and becoming extremely hard during the rolling process, it must be annealed. Annealing is a treatment that involves heating the material above its critical temperature, maintaining that temperature, and then cooling the metal. This process alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility, soften material, relieve internal stresses, and make it more workable.
Ashland Aluminum has the expertise to supply flat-rolled aluminum coil, precision-rolled aluminum coil, and cold-rolled aluminum strip. Our facility is able to perform aluminum coil annealing and can work with tight tolerance flat-rolled aluminum coil and strip. We work hard to understand all of the processing techniques in order to produce a superior product for our customers. We look forward to working with you.
*image courtesy of admissionblog.usc.edu