5. Clamping control

Clamping a rolling mill involves setting the roll gap to the desired value so that the product comes out at the required thickness. It must have two essential properties:

• it must be irreversible, i.e. it must not be possible to modify the gap value by the significant force (of the order of 10,000 kN) established between the rolls when the product enters the rolling mill;

• For a cold rolling mill, it must be possible to adjust the gap precisely, by as little as a few micrometers. In addition, it must be possible to quickly modify the gap value when it is linked to thickness control, so as to limit out-of-tolerance product length as much as possible.