Tata Steel, a pioneer in introducing innovations in the steel manufacturing process, took another step forward to boost productivity and reduce costs. The rubber-covered rolls with modified formulations recently introduced in the Continuous Galvanising Line (CGL) # 1 of its Cold Rolling Mill (CRM) has resulted in savings for the Company in the form of a longer roll life and availability of the mill. The latter has helped the mill to improve its performance and add to the Company’s turnover.
 
With the introduction of rubber-covered rolls, there has been an increase of almost 300 percent in straight life of these rolls. After removing the degraded skin of the rolls by minor surface grinding, the life has gone up by another 375 percent. The encouraging results at CGL#1 prompted the project team to work on Pickling Line and Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) and CGL # 2 lines at CRM. Tata Steel has also decided to go ahead with patenting the technology of rubber covering.
 
A team of professionals from the CRM, Metallography Lab and Scientific Services developed the technique for rubber covering in-house. The team took up the challenge to develop knowledge in this area so as to address the problem of increasing the service life of these squeeze rolls, which are critical for avoiding liquid carry-over from one operation to another in the Mill. The first area selected by the team to work in was CGL #1. To gain access to know-how and the latest technology, the team also chose to work with Rubber Technology Centre, IIT Kharagpur as its Knowledge Partner and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them.
 
The Company has also signed a MoU with two rubber manufacturers, who will manufacture the rubber-covered rolls under the supervision of the project team.