Abstract

The hot rolling of metal slabs to strip thickness and in coils having a specific weight on the order of 500 pounds per inch of width and greater comprises passing a heated metal slab through a roughing mill to form a transfer bar. The transfer bar is immediately passed between work rolls of a reversing finishing mill stand where it is coiled in a furnace downstream of the reversing finishing mill stand. Thereafter, the workpiece is passed back through the reversing finishing mill stand and coiled in a furnace on the upstream side thereof. The workpiece is again passed through the reversing finishing mill stand and into the remaining finishing stands where it is further reduced and ultimately coiled in strip form. The first two passes through the reversing finishing mill stand are carried out at speeds in excess of the third pass and unrelated to the speed cone of the remainder of the continuous finishing stands. The third pass through the reversing finishing mill stand is carried out at a rolling speed consonant with the speed cone on the subsequent passes through the continuous finishing stands.