A model to minimize the hot rolling time of a steel slab considering the steel's chemical composition

This paper presents an optimization approach to deal with the problem of minimizing the hot rolling time of a steel slab. Unlike traditional approaches, this work also considers the chemical composition of the steel slab as a parameter, allowing the automatic setup for different steels of the hot rolling mill. To validate the approach discussed here, a six-stand rolling mill is modeled as an optimization constrained problem solving for six different steel types taken from real processes. The mathematical formulation and considerations for each presented case are fully described. The experimental evidence shows that the solution of the hot rolling scheduling problem requires a more efficient method than just a constrained nonlinear optimizer and that the proposed model properly simulates the hot rolling process. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.