1. Introduction
The limit specification of hot strip rolling generally refers to the extremely wide or thin specification of a certain kind of steel in strip production. In actual production, the extremely thin specification is in the majority. In recent years, experts from some iron and steel production enterprises have carried out research on the production technology of extreme specifications based on the production site [
1,
2]. Studies have shown that extreme gauge rolling is characterized by: less rolling quantity, lower rolling stability than the conventional product specification, more preparation procedures (hot roll transition material, etc.), high equipment status requirements (rigidity, looper, mill adjustment), and special process requirements (adjusting load distribution and rolling speed, controlling rough rolling sickle bend, etc.). At the same time, some scholars have studied the control strategy and process system of the rolling process [
3,
4], and the research shows that the upper limit of limit specification width is not only related to the design specification of the rolling mill, but also related to the control technology, process system, and equipment working state; in addition to the design capacity of rolling mill unit, the lower limit of limit specification thickness is also closely related to control technology, process system, and equipment working status.
Before the production of limit specification in the current workshop, the process personnel generally formulates the production process and equipment status system. After the process specification is given by the process control system, the equipment and process are maintained, modified and confirmed item by item in combination with the current automatic data acquisition signal and equipment routine inspection results, and the production task is executed after meeting the production conditions. The problems in the whole process are: difficult analysis, complex production system and process, experience dependent rolling stability, unstable product quality, hidden danger of equipment damage, etc. [
5]. In recent years, some scholars have put forward some experience and standards for the production of limit specifications of hot strip rolling, but they all put forward specific rolling suggestions for the specified specifications. These process parameters and equipment status have little guiding significance for other steel types and specifications [
6,
7]. At the same time, some scholars have analyzed the relevant equipment and technology of limit gauge rolling and believe that the current dimension control is a mature technology, and the key to improvement lies in the adjustment and maintenance method, while the artificial intelligence method is a powerful tool, which can fill the gap between the physical model and the actual data [
8], and can be combined with the original rolling system to improve the performance [
9].
Different from the traditional analysis methods, the artificial intelligence method can simulate the human brain to deal with the real process. Through data input, it can carry out self-learning training and simulation. It has a high degree of fitting and has significant advantages in dealing with non-linear relations. Liu, D. used a genetic algorithm to optimize the number of hidden layer nodes and network weights of the neural network, which improved the model accuracy and computational efficiency [
10]. Yang, G. proposed a neural network control method integrating the genetic algorithm, which effectively improves the learning efficiency and convergence accuracy of the weight coefficients of the multi-layer feedforward neural network [
11]. Yang, J. utilized the genetic algorithm to optimize the weight threshold of the multi-layer feedforward neural network, which improved the accuracy of the rolling force prediction model [
12]. Rafael, M. compared various online training methods in computational experiments, and the results show that intelligent algorithms are superior to traditional algorithms in terms of computational efficiency and computational accuracy [
13]. Wang, Z. studied the application status of artificial neural network in the field of rolling. His research shows that the artificial neural network has great advantages in single process parameter prediction, such as rolling force prediction, yield strength prediction, and coiling temperature prediction. The prediction accuracy of steel rolling related parameters can be significantly improved, and the quality of rolled products can be improved [
14]. The artificial intelligence method can predict the rolling process based on field and experimental data, and can avoid the error caused by the assumption being divorced from reality and the simplification being too rough [
15]. In the research of strip rolling, the commonly used artificial intelligence methods include artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR) [
16]. Among them, the back propagation (BP) neural network is widely used in the research of various rolling models because of its high stability and high combination with other algorithms. The genetic algorithm is based on the widely existing natural selection and genetic mechanism in nature, and simulates the biological evolution mechanism on the computer to achieve the purpose of rapid search and optimization. It is simple and universal, and can maintain high optimization accuracy and efficiency [
17]. By combining the two methods, the process optimization results with high reliability can be obtained when the number of test samples is small [
18,
19]. In this paper, an intelligent optimization method of rolling process parameters for hot strip rolling based on BP neural network and genetic algorithm is proposed, which intelligently recommends the optimal process parameter combination to guide the actual production and improve the rolling stability.
At present, the application of intelligent algorithms in the rolling field mainly focuses on the prediction of single process parameters, the optimization of neural network weight thresholds by genetic algorithm. Few authors discuss the problems that how to construct a sample set related to equipment status and how to use artificial intelligence models to optimize process parameter combinations. The author conducts a field study aimed at filling this research gap and closely integrated with the production site to provide instructive advice for production site technicians.
5. Optimization of Process Parameters and Result Analysis
5.1. Optimization of Process Parameters
Taking the rolling rhythm, intermediate slab thickness, final rolling temperature, in furnace time and rolling sequence in roll change cycle as recommended processes, taking the rolling stability score as the goal, the neural network model as the fitness function for global optimization. The genetic algorithm is used to search the trained neural network model, and the mapping relationship is optimized with the rolling stability score of 100 as the goal, until the rolling process suggestions that meet the conditions are found. The extreme specification rolling model constructed has the characteristics of many optimization parameters and high complexity. There are slight differences in the results of multiple optimizations, but all of them can achieve the simulation effect of 100 points of rolling stability. In field applications, the rolling rhythm requirements must be met while ensuring rolling stability. Therefore, the optimal process parameter combination obtained by optimization in the shortest time is used as the rolling recommendation. In order to ensure production safety, the rolling recommendation will be determined by the field technology. Personnel decides whether to accept or not.
The strip steel MRTRG00201 with width of 1276 mm in a steel plant is taken as the test object. There are 91 thin gauge samples with thickness less than 4 mm in the rolling history samples of strip steel with the same equipment status and product specification, of which the minimum thickness is 3.2 mm, the maximum thickness is 4 mm, the highest rolling stability score is 100 and the lowest is 80. However, the 3 mm thick strip has not been rolled. When the 3 mm thick strip needs to be rolled on site, there is no rolling history sample as a reference, and there is no way to obtain the setting of various process values and rolling stability. Therefore, taking the 3 mm thick strip as the test object, the rolling process parameters are optimized through the limit specification rolling model combined with neural network and genetic algorithm, and the optimal process values are proposed.
In the iteration process, the iteration operation of the crossover selection mutation crossover selection cycle is repeated [
29,
30], and the final optimization objective function value tends to be stable, and the individual with the highest rolling stability is output. The optimization results are as follows: the rolling rhythm is 30.86/h, the thickness of intermediate slab is 43.71 mm, the final rolling temperature is 1100.12 °C, the furnace time is 150.16 min, the serial number is 30.36 in the roll change cycle, and the rolling stability score is 100 points, as shown in
Table 7:
5.2. Result Analysis
The rolling process is a multivariate non-linear process with strong coupling characteristics. The recommended values of various process parameters are obtained through the optimization of the rolling model of extreme specifications. As shown in
Table 7, under the coupling action of this group of process parameter values, a rolling stability effect of 100 points can be achieved. However, in field applications, in order to satisfy production equipment and process requirements and ensure production safety, the recommended values of various process parameters should conform to field production rules and satisfy the experience expectations of field technicians. Therefore, it is necessary to provide technical personnel with more intuitive and specific analysis to improve the practicability and security of the model.
The visualization process of multi-factor coupling effects is complex and requires the high analysis ability of field technicians. Therefore, in this study, the visualization process of multi-factor coupling effects is presented in the form of single-factor slices. Focusing on the distribution law of samples and the evolution law of rolling stability, it is recommended to analyze various process parameters of the roll change cycle, such as mill pacing, thickness of intermediate billet, final rolling temperature, time in the furnace, and roll change order. The rationality and feasibility of the proposed process value are verified based on the historical sample data on site.
5.2.1. Mill Pacing
As shown in
Figure 6a, the previous rolling history samples of MRTRG00201_1276 steel strip are mainly distributed between (29, 31) and (31, 33), a total of 36 samples. The rolling rhythm value recommended by the model is 30.86/h, which is distributed in the interval (29, 31), in line with the sample distribution law of this steel strip rolling.
According to
Figure 6b, the rolling stability score of the rolling rhythm interval (29, 31) is higher than that of the adjacent interval. Based on the sample distribution and rolling stability score, it is obvious that the rolling rhythm interval (29, 31) is easier to obtain high rolling stability.
5.2.2. Thickness of Intermediate Billet
According to
Figure 7a, in the rolling history samples of MRTRG00201_1276 strip, the thickness of the intermediate billet is mainly distributed around 43.7 mm, with the minimum of 43.70 mm and the maximum of 43.72 mm. The thickness of intermediate billet recommended by the model is 43.71 mm, which is at the position with the largest number of rolling samples, and conforms to the distribution law of rolling samples.
According to
Figure 7b, the rolling stability score when the thickness of intermediate billet is 43.71 mm is significantly higher than that when other values are taken, while the optimal parameter obtained through model optimization is 43.71 mm, which can obtain the highest rolling stability.
5.2.3. Finishing Temperature
According to
Figure 8a, in the rolling history samples of MRTRG00201_1276 strip, the final rolling temperature is mainly distributed in the interval (1100, 1110), in which there are 33 samples, and the final rolling temperature obtained by model optimization is 1100.12 °C, which conforms to the sample distribution law.
According to
Figure 8b, it is easy to obtain high rolling stability in the interval (1100, 1110), and the rolling stability tends to decrease with the increase in final rolling temperature. Therefore, the process value obtained through model optimization is helpful to obtain higher rolling stability.
5.2.4. Time in the Furnace
According to
Figure 9a, in the rolling history samples of MRTRG00201_1276 strip, the furnace time is mainly distributed in the interval (145, 155) and the interval (155, 165), and the number of samples in these two intervals is 45, accounting for about half of the total number of historical samples, while the process value obtained by model optimization is 150.16 min, which is located in the interval (145, 155), which conforms to the sample distribution law.
As shown in
Figure 9b, with the change of furnace time, the rolling stability scores of most thickness specifications are relatively stable, but for the interval with the largest sample distribution, it is easier to obtain high rolling stability within the furnace time interval (145, 155).
5.2.5. Rolling Sequence in Roll Change Cycle
According to
Figure 10a, in the rolling history samples of MRTRG00201_1276 strip, the rolling sequence in the roll change cycle is mainly distributed in the interval (30, 60) and (60, 90), of which the number of samples in the interval (30, 60) is 24, and the number of samples in the interval (60, 90) is 31. The number of samples in the two intervals accounts for about 60% of the total number of samples. The rolling sequence in the roll change cycle obtained by model optimization is 30.36, which conforms to the sample distribution law.
According to
Figure 10b, there are four thickness specifications in the rolling history sample, among which the strip steel (4 mm, 3.5 mm, 3.2 mm) with three thickness specifications has high rolling stability in the interval (30, 60), so the process value obtained through model optimization is helpful to obtain high rolling stability in rolling.