US 12,291,757 B2
Method for the heat treatment of a metal based on a predicted austenite content to achieve austenite content within a quality window
Ulrich Sommers, Duesseldorf (DE); Thomas Daube, Duisburg (DE); Alexandre Lhoest, Eupen (BE); and Holger Behrens, Erkrath (DE)
Assigned to SMS GROUP GMBH, Duesseldorf (DE)
Appl. No. 17/608,923
Filed by SMS GROUP GMBH, Duesseldorf (DE)
PCT Filed Apr. 23, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/061376
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 4, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/224983, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 12, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102019206538.4 (DE), filed on May 7, 2019; and application No. 102019209163.6 (DE), filed on Jun. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0195558 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
Int. Cl. C21D 11/00 (2006.01); C21D 9/00 (2006.01); C21D 9/46 (2006.01); C22C 38/02 (2006.01); C22C 38/04 (2006.01); G05B 13/04 (2006.01)
CPC C21D 11/00 (2013.01) [C21D 9/0018 (2013.01); C21D 9/46 (2013.01); C22C 38/02 (2013.01); C22C 38/04 (2013.01); G05B 13/04 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for providing heat treatment of a metallic product along a processing line, the metallic product including one of a strip or a sheet, in which the metallic product is conveyed through a furnace device at an initial predetermined conveyance speed in a conveying direction, the furnace device being controlled and/or regulated by a control and/or regulating device for conveying, heating and cooling the metallic product, wherein the metallic product is conveyed and heated until reaching a first location in the furnace device and is then further conveyed and cooled until reaching a second location in the furnace device along the processing line, wherein the second location with respect to the conveying direction of the metallic product is downstream of the first location, the method comprising the steps of:
(i) determining a quality window with respect to an austenite content of the metallic product corresponding to the second location in the furnace device, wherein the determining the quality window includes defining a minimum value and a maximum value of the austenite content at the second location;
(ii) predicting, from a position upstream of the second location, a downstream temperature of the metallic product while being conveyed in the conveying direction, the downstream temperature corresponding to the second location and based on (a) a heat transfer equation as a function of an upstream temperature of the metallic product, the upstream temperature of the metallic product being determined at the position upstream of the second location, and/or (b) a conveyance speed of the metallic product while being conveyed through the furnace device;
(iii) predicting the austenite content of the metallic product at the second location by a metallurgical and/or data-based model on a basis of the downstream temperature of the metallic product as predicted according to step (ii); and
(iv) adjusting, via the control and/or regulating device while the metallic product is being conveyed, (a) at least one zone temperature of the furnace device such that at least one of a heating treatment and a cooling treatment is applied to the metallic product upstream of the second location, and/or (b) a present conveyance speed of the metallic product along the conveying direction to a different conveyance speed through the furnace device, said adjusting occurring in an instance at which the austenite content of the metallic product predicted for the second location, according to step (iii), has a value outside the quality window of step (i) such that, after said adjusting of the at least one zone temperature of the furnace device and/or the conveyance speed of the metallic product along the conveying direction, the austenite content of the metallic product predicted for the second location subsequently has a value within the quality window.