Patent Application
20190381547
The present invention relates to methods of making aluminium rolled products having at least bright surface, for example for lighting reflector applications.
Bright aluminium sheets have been used for many applications requiring specific aspect or optical properties for example in solar, automotive, cosmetics, decorative or in lighting applications, such as in reflector assemblies. For these applications, aluminium sheets must have various photometric properties to meet requirements of lighting fixture manufacturers. Among the most highly sought photometric properties are high specular reflection (the amount of light reflected by the sheet, as a percentage of incident light), and low diffuse or non-directional reflection of light. These properties have been achieved in the prior art by a combination of careful alloy selection for the sheet stock material and one of two cold rolling practices. In one practice, the sheet stock is cold rolled to a standard mill finish, followed by either chemical/electrochemical finishing or organic coating. In the other practice, at least one surface of aluminium alloy sheet is cold rolled with a specular or bright cold rolled surface using a work roll that has been polished to a smooth finish. This resultant sheet has high specular or mirror like reflectance and very low diffuse reflectance. For providing aluminium rolled products with a bright surface, the surface of the working roll used in a rolling mill to roll the product must have a topography that is engineered to provide the desired brightness. Also of importance is the difficulty in preventing transfer of the aluminium onto the rolls. Because of the friction and high rolling pressures used, great care must be exercised in lubricating the frictional interface between the aluminium work piece and the product in order to insure minimum build-up of aluminium on the product while at the same time attaining a bright product. Also possibly related to the lubricant is the presence of water stains and particles which are aesthetically unattractive and their elimination or reduction is valuable.
In order to solve these problems, and provide an efficient and economical process for making aluminium rolled product having at least bright surface, an improved process including improved lubricant and method to maintain this improved lubricant has been designed.
An object of the invention is a method for cold rolling bright aluminium rolled products comprising:
(a) Providing a first aluminium alloy rolled product
(b) Rolling said first product with a rolling mill having at least one work roll ground to a finish, with a roughness Ra less than 1 μm, and using a rolling lubricant from a first container comprising less than 150 mg/L of aluminium debris to obtain a second aluminium rolled product having at least one bright surface,
(c) Transferring at least a portion of said rolling lubricant to a second container
(d) Filtering the lubricant from said second container by using cross flow filtration through a membrane, to obtain a cleaned rolling lubricant comprising less than 10 mg/L and preferably less than 5 mg/L of aluminium debris preferentially having a mean diameter of less than 2 μm,
(e) Returning said cleaned rolling lubricant to the first container.
Unless mentioned otherwise, definition of standard NF EN 12258 apply.
According to the present invention a method for cold rolling bright aluminium rolled products is provided.
Bright aluminium rolled products are aluminium rolled products having at least one bright surface. By bright surface it is meant a surface having controlled optical properties. Bright surfaces include mirror, rolled bright, semi-specular, mat or structured surfaces. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the specular reflectance of the bright surface, typically a mirror or rolled bright surface, measured for example with a glossmeter according to standard ISO7668 at an angle of 20°, is at least 58% and preferably at least 78%, and the diffuse reflectance, measured for example with a Ulbricht sphere according to standard DIN 5036-3, remains less than 36% and preferably less than 8%. In another embodiment of the invention, typically a mat or structured bright surface, the specular reflectance of the bright surface, measured for example with a glossmeter according to standard ISO7668 at an angle of 60°, is between 15% and 75%, typically less than 50%, and the diffuse reflectance, measured for example with a Ulbricht sphere according to standard DIN 5036-3, remains more than 60% and preferably more than 70%.
A first aluminium alloy rolled product is provided. The aluminium alloy rolled product typically has a thickness between 0.1 and 2 mm and preferably between 0.3 and 1.2 mm. Preferably said aluminium rolled product comprises an aluminium alloy from the 1XXX, 3XXX or 5XXX series, as defined by The Aluminum Association, known to those skilled in the art. This first aluminium alloy rolled product may have standard mill finish surfaces or may have at least one bright surface. Bright products are usually obtained by using a rolling schedule including several rolling passes with decreasing work roll roughness. This first aluminium alloy rolled product is rolled with a rolling mill having at least one work roll polished to a finish with a roughness Ra, measured according to standard DIN EN ISO 4288, less than 1 μm, and preferentially a smooth finish with Ra less than 0.1 μm and preferably Ra less than 0.05 μm and even more preferably Ra less than 0.03 μm. It is noted that work rolls polished to a finish with a roughness Ra between 0.1 and 1 μm are particularly adapted for mat or textured bright surfaces. In an embodiment both work rolls have a roughness Ra less than 1 μm, preferentially less than 0.1 μm, and preferably Ra less than 0.05 μm or even Ra less than 0.03 μm. The rolling mill may be of the type duo (two rolls), quarto (4 rolls) or sexto (6 rolls). In a preferred embodiment the rolling mill is of the type duo, because the roughness of the work roll is then not affected by the roughness of other rolls and because the aluminium transfer between the roll and the sheet is easier to manage. A second aluminium rolled product having at least one bright surface is obtained by rolling. Preferably the roughness Ra of said at least one bright surface measured according to standard DIN EN ISO 4288 and/or by using white light interferometry is less than 0.1 μm, preferably less than 0.05 μm, and even more preferably Ra less than 0.03 μm. In an embodiment said bright surface has a roughness Ra between 0.01 μm and 0.02 μm. In another embodiment related to mat or textured surfaces the roughness Ra of said at least one bright surface measured according to standard DIN EN ISO 4288 and/or by using white light interferometry is more than 0.1 μm or even more than 0.2 μm and less than 1 μm, preferably less than 0.5 μm, and even more preferably Ra less than 0.4 μm. In another embodiment said bright surface has a roughness Ra between 0.3 μm and 0.5 μm. In yet another embodiment said bright surface has a roughness Ra between 0.8 μm and 1.2 μm.
A rolling lubricant stored in a first container is used to cool down and lubricate the rolling mill. The present inventors observed that the quality of said bright surface is improved and consistently maintained if the rolling lubricant comprises less than 150 mg/L of aluminium debris, preferably less than 100 mg/L and preferentially less than 50 mg/L. During rolling, the content of aluminium debris in the rolling lubricant however continuously increases due to the frictional interface between the steel working roll and the rolled product. The method of the invention enables to maintain the content of aluminium debris less than 150 mg/L during several months of operations of the rolling mill without complete replacement of the rolling lubricant as only punctual additions to maintain the total quantity of lubricant are needed. Contrary to other expensive solutions wherein the rolling lubricant is replaced as soon as the content of aluminium debris reaches a value above 150 mg/L, in the method of the invention an efficient filtering process of the rolling lubricant is provided. According to the invention at least a portion of said rolling lubricant is transferred to a second container. The portion which is transferred is sufficient to maintain a flow of lubricant enabling a control of the quantity of aluminium debris is the first container. The lubricant from said second container is filtered by using cross flow filtration through a membrane, to obtain a cleaned rolling lubricant comprising less than 10 mg/L of aluminium debris preferentially having a mean diameter of less than 2 μm and more preferentially having a mean diameter of less than 1 μm. Crossflow filtration, also known as tangential flow filtration, is a type of filtration wherein the majority of the feed flow travels tangentially along the surface of the filter, rather than across into the filter. The solids debris are rejected into this main flux and are recycled in a working tank. The filtered liquid goes in the perpendicular direction (crossflow) to this main flux. The two different and perpendicular directions of the dirty oil and the filtrate enable a very limited clogging of the filter. Crossflow filtration is different from dead-end filtration in which the feed is passed through a membrane or bed, the solids being trapped in the filter and the filtrate being released at the other end. The present inventors observed that crossflow filtration is particularly suitable to obtain a significant flow of a cleaned rolling lubricant comprising less than 10 mg/L and preferably 5 mg/L of aluminium debris for the rolling of bright products. Indeed the present inventors observed that a particular aspect of the bright products rolling is that the aluminium debris which are produced are particularly small, typically less than 2 μm diameter and are not easily filtered with standard techniques, such as stack filter with filtration aids, such as diatomaceous earths, clay or cellulose.
Eliminating large particles with a diameter of more than 2 μm and even more preferably of more than 1 μm or even of more than 0.5 μm, also contributes to the product quality as hard large aluminium debris can produce defect on the aluminium rolled product surfaces. Advantageously the cross flow filtration is carried out through at least one cylindrical ceramic membrane, preferably with a porosity less than 0.3 μm and preferentially less than 0.2 μm. The ceramic membranes are preferably made of alpha alumina, carbide silicon, zirconia or titanium oxide or combinations thereof. Alternatively, metallic membranes made of stainless steel with a similar porosity can also be used. In yet another embodiment the cross flow filtration is carried out with filter membrane assembly having a plurality of filter membranes dynamically moving. The ceramic membranes can also have an hydrophobic behaviour that limits the humidity adsorption into the support and helps maintaining high flow rate during operation.
The size and characteristics of the membrane are chosen to remove aluminium debris without changing the composition of the rolling oil, particularly functional additives should preferably remain in the rolling lubricant.
The cleaned rolling lubricant comprising less than 10 mg/L and preferably less than 5 mg/L of aluminium debris preferentially having a mean diameter of less than 2 μm, is then returned to the first container with a flow sufficient to maintain less than 150 mg/L of aluminium debris in the first container.
Preferably the water content of the rolling lubricant from said first container is less than 0.1 g/L and the water content of the cleaned rolling lubricant is less than 0.05 g/L. In an embodiment a water extraction device is connected to said second container. The water extraction device may be a degassing device or an absorption device such as for example a cellulose filter. In another embodiment, the temperature of the rolling lubricant during cross flow filtration is between 90° C. and 100° C. to permit evaporation of water. Maintaining the water content of the rolling lubricant from the first container to less than 0.1 g/L is advantageous to avoid water stains on the second rolled aluminium product.
The rolling lubricant temperature from the first container is preferably maintained between 30° C. and 50° C. Advantageously the temperature of the rolling lubricant during cross flow filtration is between 50° C. and 100° C. If the temperature of the rolling lubricant during cross flow filtration is between 90° C. and 100° C., a cooling device may be needed to obtain the desired rolling lubricant temperature in the first container. In another embodiment the temperature of the rolling lubricant during cross flow filtration is between 50° C. and 70° C.
A duo-rolling mill used for cold rolling bright aluminium rolled has been operated with a method of the invention as described in
The content of aluminium debris of the rolling lubricant 51 from the first container 2 and of the cleaned lubricant 54 are provided in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17153945.5 | Jan 2017 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2018/051869 | 1/25/2018 | WO | 00 |
