In today’s metal strip manufacturing industry, standard rolling fluids are no longer enough. As new metal alloys are introduced, productivity must increase, sustainability becomes standard and customer specifications become more stringent and tighter, there is a need for rolling fluids that support these needs.
Besides innovation and new ways of working the properties of the cold rolling oils should be corrected after contamination, as none of contamination is the same, adapting the properties of the rolling fluid top-up is customisation. The mills need rolling fluids and other lubricants that do more than just “lubricate”. They need high‑performance application engineered fluids that tick all the boxes.
Customisation isn’t just about “buying the premium version”, it’s about adaptation to specific alloys, mill conditions, and environmental needs.
Here are some advantages of using customized cold rolling fluids over “off-the-shelf” alternatives:
- Adjusting Rolling Fluid Properties
When there is leakage of hydraulic or gear oils into your rolling oil, the physical and chemical properties can shift, with an impact on the rolling conditions. With customized rolling fluid, we can correct these properties, after analyzing the viscosity and additive levels. - Top-up
When a mill is filled with a different fluid, the economic incentive is to keep the “sump” but improve the performance. The customization starts with a “fingerprint” analysis of the present fluid to ensure the compatibility and miscibility of the Q8Oils and this fluid’s chemistry. If we can improve the fluid’s properties, a concentrated additive “booster” can be formulated. This allows the user to achieve the performance of a customised cold rolling oil while utilising the existing fluid volume as the carrier. Yet many mills continue to operate with long‑standing performance fluids that, while familiar, may no longer provide the level of performance required-or expected-in current production environments.A tailored top‑up fluid allows us to engineer-in the properties the system lacks, upgrading performance without removing what already works. - Production efficiency
Tailored rolling fluids can support by optimising production efficiency by increasing speeds or adapted pass schedules. Higher rolling speeds demand adapted rolling fluid viscosity. When production output is increased by increasing the rolling speed, the amount of oil drawn into the roll bite naturally rises as well. This higher oil entrainment leads to a reduction in friction along the arc of contact at elevated speeds. As speed increases, and more oil is dragged into the roll bite, a shift in the lubrication regime can be expected. The lubrication behavior will move toward the hydrodynamic regime and can cause slip. This can result in different surface issues, like dull surface appearance. To maintain optimal friction control, we can adjust the viscosity of the cold rolling oil in your mill. By topping up with a tailor‑made rolling oil with the required viscosity, we can support consistent rolling performance, even at higher speeds. Why customisation matters here is that the control of friction is changing when different alloys are rolled.Adapting the right lubricity and extreme-pressure chemistry and concentration ensures optimal grip and minimize slip. - Match Metallurgy
Every alloy has its “personality” and frictional behaviors. An Austenitic stainless-steel alloy versus the Ferritic stainless-steel alloy or the bare copper versus the brass, there is a substantial difference in frictional behavior. Customised rolling fluids offer significant advantages when processing different metal alloys, particularly due to variations in work hardening behavior.Alloys with higher work hardening rates require tailored performance additives and particularly their concentration. By fine-tuning the rolling fluid formulations, rolling efficiency can be improved per alloy. - High speed and / or high reductions
In severe rolling operations, high speed and / or high reductions, the demands on the fluid increase substantially, often requiring enhanced lubricity and extreme pressure performance. While such adjustments can negatively impact annealing performance, a customised approach allows for the careful balance of additives. This ensures that both rolling performance and after treatment requirements are met, providing an optimisation of the entire production process. The key benefit of customised rolling fluids is that we can align the rolling fluid properties with after treatment processes such as annealing. By adjusting both the composition and concentration of the components, it is possible to optimise the burn-off and prevent staining during heat treatment.
Customized rolling fluids provide clear and tangible benefits for strip manufacturers, enabling optimised performance for each specific alloy, improved product quality, optimised rolling performance and enhanced compatibility with aftertreatment processes. This tailored approach supports higher efficiency, reduced defects, and more consistent operational results.
From our perspective as a supplier, delivering these customised solutions is not a major complexity. With our formulation expertise and flexible production capabilities, we can efficiently adapt compositions to meet specific customer requirements. We are pleased to support our partners with solutions that add value to their processes while remaining straightforward for us to develop and supply.
