Project: Finalized development of a new type of oil free aqueous metal rolling lubricants
The present project aims to optimize a new type of aqueous, mineral oil free lubricant coolants for metal rolling and to communicate their advantages to the market. The work involves formulation of optimized products and to demonstrate their performance in aluminium cold and hot rolling and in the cold rolling of stainless steel. In particular, the intention is to prove that the products can be used to produce sheet material with adequate surface qualities, with lubrication performance at least comparable to the present technology. An important issue is to show that the fluids are easily COtained, with respect to the removal of metal debris and leak oils._x000D__x000D_The new products will replace oil emulsions in aluminium hot rolling and substitute neat oils in aluminium and steel cold rolling. The latter applications constitute a major change in the industries and lead to substantial improvements in environmental standards, fire safety and production cost savings with respect to chemicals of up to 70%._x000D__x000D_Oil emulsions often offer adequate lubrication in the target applications, but reCO unstable which frequently results in uncontrolled lubrication and also in high chemicals consumption due to a need to bleed the coolant systems to allow adding fresh product. These are the CO draw backs, besides the potentially negative environmental influence of mineral oils and oil soluble components._x000D__x000D_Neat oils used in the cold rolling of aluminium often offer long service life, but suffer from being highly inflammable; in fact, the complete destruction of production mills by flash fires is reported regularly around the world. Thus, the use of mineral oils causes high costs for fire damages, costs for measures to avoid fires, high costs for fire insurances and equipment to eliminate hydrocarbon emissions into the work and exterior environment. In addition, their volatile and flammable nature as well as their inferior cooling capacity, as compared to water, also causes productivity restrictions._x000D__x000D_The present development draws on experiences from the development of oil free products dating almost 30 years back, when the project leader founders were first involved in substantial industrial investments into this technical area with the Swedish chemical industry (Berol Kemi/AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry). Already at the beginning, focus was on the solving of environmental issues and productivity restrictions encountered in the use of flammable oils in metal rolling. _x000D__x000D_More recently, during almost 5 years of supply of oil free hot rolling fluids to an aluminium breakdown mill, it has been possible to verify a low consumption of chemicals with the new concept; less than 25% of active material has been used as compared to losses observed with oil emulsions and volatiles in the air have been reduced by 95%. _x000D__x000D_Based on recent observations from laboratory strip rolling and pilot scale rolling of aluminium, it has been found that a way to further improve reduction capacity of the new lubricants is to enhance the hydrodynamic lubrication regime of the formulations as a means to handle critical tribological conditions caused by the impact of rolling speed, reduction force and temperatures of the lubrication zone. This general improvement of the tribological properties of the present oil free lubricants is expected to have broadened the use of the concept also into other areas of metal working._x000D__x000D_Thus, activities outlined in this project aim at the optimization of formulations with respect to lubrication and surface quality of produced materials. Progress in this endeavour will be accomplished and verified in the formulation laboratory of the project leader as well as by tribological measurements in participant VTTs laboratory. These initial screening tests will be used to select optimized formulations to be tested in strip rolling in the laboratory of the aluminium rolling associate company (non-participant) prior to pilot rolling at the participating institute (SwereaMefos) with material and process input from the metal processing Ps involved._x000D__x000D_A method for the rapid separation of contaminants was devised during the autumn of 2011 and confirmed in the full scale hot rolling fluid system in January 2012. In the present work, a range of candidate lubrication and coagulation/flocculation components will be tested with respect to separability._x000D__x000D_An important objective of the present project is to produce metal specimens, process data and metal rolling demonstration films to be used in market communication. This is a crucial task in order to prove the development progress, since in Al cold rolling, water based formulations are generally seen as a technology of the future. The goal is to attract the attention of potential customers to make their production mills available for the evaluation of the new fluid concepts. Full scale production data will constitute the ultimately needed proof of the technology._x000D__x000D__x000D_
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Acronym
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Ambi 2013
(Reference Number: 8390)
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Duration
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01/05/2014 - 30/04/2017
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Project Topic
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After 5 years of supply to aluminum hot rolling , new formulas will be evaluated in the lab, strip rolling and pilot rolling. Metal producers, tribolologists, rolling experts and potential suppliers participate. Pilot rolling demos and produced sheet metal will be used in market communication.
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Network
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Eurostars
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Call
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Eurostars Cut-Off 10
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Project partner
