Process for adjusting lubricant oil droplet size in an aluminum rolling mill

摘要

A process is described for rolling aluminum products in which the aluminum is passed between rolls of a rolling mill and rolling bite friction is controlled by applying to the rolls or less often to the aluminum being rolled a lubricant comprising an oil-in-water emulsion having a specific oil droplet size. According to the novel feature, the oil droplet size is adjusted by either (a) blending the emulsion components from a multi-tank storage or (b) passing a large droplet size emulsion through an homogenizer or mixer to obtain droplets of a desired size. The droplet size is selected to optimize the roll bite friction requirements of different sheet aluminum products or rolling mills or to compensate for emulsion degradation due to ageing.