3-D thermo-mechanical coupled finite element simulation for hot continuous free floating mandrel rolling of seamless steel tubes

The eight-stand hot continuous rolling of seamless steel tubes with an inner free floating mandrel was successfully simulated by using three-dimensional thermo-mechanical coupled elastoplastic FEM after the fi-nite element model was constructed with the friction, heat-transferring and contact boundary conditions. The stress, strain and temperature distributions as well as rolling force during the hot continuous mandrel rolling were obtained from the finite element analysis. The simulated rolling force is in good agreement with the measured one. The characteristics of the velocity of floating mandrel as well as the changes in outer diameter and wall thickness of the tube shell were also investigated in detail.