An apparatus for processing metallic strip material comprises a feeder for feeding strip material; a strip drive with at least one controllable traction drive with a carrier and a motor, a drivable traction loop and a press assembly, wherein the power of the motor and the pressing force of the press assembly are variably controllable; a roller assembly for flexible rolling; a measuring device for measuring a physical parameter of a component acting on the strip material; wherein the driving power of the motor is controllable on the basis of the physical parameter measured by the measuring device.

A method for dynamic roll gap control for flexible rolling of metallic strip material can include: defining a nominal thickness profile with defined nominal corner points and with profile sections lying in between, wherein two profile sections adjoining a nominal corner point each have different average gradients; flexible rolling of the strip material according to the nominal thickness profile; measuring an actual thickness profile of the flexibly rolled strip material; determining actual corner points corresponding to the nominal corner points and actual intermediate points corresponding to the nominal intermediate points; determining corner point comparison values from the nominal corner points and the corresponding actual corner points, as well as intermediate point comparison values from the nominal intermediate points with the corresponding actual intermediate points; controlling a roll gap depending on the corner point comparison values and the intermediate point comparison values.

A method for manufacturing a product from a flexibly rolled strip material includes the steps of: providing a strip material made from sheet steel; flexibly rolling the strip material such that a variable thickness is produced along the length of the strip material; electrolytically coating the strip material with a metallic coating material containing at least 93% of zinc by mass after the flexible rolling; heat treating at temperatures above 350° C. and below a solidus line of the coating material after the electrolytic coating; working a blank from the flexibly rolled strip material; and hot forming the blank.

The present invention relates to a method for producing hot rolled strip steel, especially the producing method of hot rolled strip steel with multiple target thicknesses in the longitudinal direction. It is a method to produce the strip steel with different target thicknesses in the longitudinal direction by using a hot continuous rolling mill. In this method, the first equal-thickness section of the strip steel is controlled with the conventional thickness control strategy, while other equal-thickness sections and the transition section between equal-thickness sections are controlled with the variable-thickness control strategy. Under the variable-thickness control strategy, the length of the first section of strip steel, the variation of thickness target value, the rolling stability and the spacing between stands are combined to determine the stand participating in the variable-thickness control, and calculate the roller gap value, as well as the time and speed of the variation of roller gap, thus achieving the producing control of strip steel with different target thicknesses in the longitudinal direction. The present invention utilizes the length of the first equal-thickness section and the variation of different target thicknesses and other related factors to determine the stands participating in the control, and then distributes the load variation among the stands, thus effectively avoiding the influence on the rolling stability due to imbalance of second flow, so that the produced strip with variable thickness in different sections in the longitudinal direction meet the user's requirements.

Methods of forming a high-strength metal alloy precursor by tailor-casting strips having a tailored thickness across a width of a strip material are provided. The tailor-cast strips have varying thickness throughout the width, which can then be further tailor rolled to a final required thickness profile/tailored thickness. Such tailor-casting method can be conducted by contacting a patterned surface of a casting roller or a casting block with a liquid high-strength metal alloy in a continuous casting process. The present disclosure provides methods of continuously casting a strip having varying thickness across the width allows for improved product in subsequent processing, like tailor rolling. Methods of making a high-strength metal alloy structural automotive component from a tailor-cast blank having a tailored thickness are also provided.

Described herein is a method for rolling metal sheets of variable thickness. The method makes it possible to impress, during rolling, any distribution of areas of increased thickness within a figure corresponding to the plane development of a motor-vehicle component prior to the pressing operation. Impression of the desired distribution of areas of increased thickness envisages simultaneous impression, during rolling, of a further distribution of areas of increased thickness, or compensation areas.

Separating flexibly rolled strip material can include a buffer device for temporarily storing the flexibly rolled strip material; a first feed device behind the buffer device; at least one length measuring device for continuously measuring a length of the strip material; a thickness measuring device for continuously measuring a thickness of the strip material along the length; a second feed device behind the first feed device; a separating device behind the second feed device; the first and second feed devices being configured to move the strip material from the buffer device to the separating device depending on the thickness measurement and the length measurement; the thickness measuring device being arranged between the buffer device and the first feed device; and the length measuring device being arranged behind the first feed device.

A method for dynamic roll gap control for flexible rolling of metallic strip material can include: defining a nominal thickness profile with defined nominal corner points and with profile sections lying in between, wherein two profile sections adjoining a nominal corner point each have different average gradients; flexible rolling of the strip material according to the nominal thickness profile; measuring an actual thickness profile of the flexibly rolled strip material; determining actual corner points corresponding to the nominal corner points and actual intermediate points corresponding to the nominal intermediate points; determining corner point comparison values from the nominal corner points and the corresponding actual corner points, as well as intermediate point comparison values from the nominal intermediate points with the corresponding actual intermediate points; controlling a roll gap depending on the corner point comparison values and the intermediate point comparison values.

Described herein is a method for rolling metal sheets of variable thickness. The method makes it possible to impress, during rolling, any distribution of areas of increased thickness within a figure corresponding to the plane development of a motor-vehicle component prior to the pressing operation. Impression of the desired distribution of areas of increased thickness envisages simultaneous impression, during rolling, of a further distribution of areas of increased thickness, or compensation areas.

A method for producing a semifinished product with locally different material thicknesses may involve preparing a multilayer, metal material composite, which has a plurality of layers with different ductilities, and rolling the material composite in a method for flexible rolling through a rolling gap formed between two rollers. The rolling gap may be configured such that regions with different material thicknesses are formed. In some cases, the multilayer, metal material composite is rolled at room temperature. Further, the plurality of layers of the multilayer, metal material composite may include a first outer layer disposed on a first side of a middle layer and a second outer layer disposed on a second side of the middle layer, with the second side of the middle layer being opposite the first side.