Enhanced work roll surface texture for cold and hot rolling of aluminum

Abstract

A method of making a strip product having a surface that is both bright and clean after being rolled by work rolls in a roll stand. The work rolls are polished to remove grind lines from the roll surfaces, and the roll surfaces are provided with minute, ovoid depressions having relatively shallow slopes extending in the direction of rolling, followed by steeper slopes at the opposite ends of the depressions. The depressions are created by a laser beam directed against the roll surfaces at oblique incidence to the roll surface normal during relative movement of the beam and roll surfaces. The roll surfaces are then polished to remove any roll material that is raised above the nominal surface of the rolls, the raised material being the result of melting of the roll surfaces and the deposition of roll material vaporized by the laser beam. The strip is reduced in thickness with such textured rolls without substantial micromachining of the surface of the strip such that the generation of wear debris and smudge is minimized in reducing the thickness of the strip.