Surface Finish Quantification for Hollow Tube Sections

塔塔钢铁(TS)英国的空心型材业务为建筑、起重和挖掘市场生产方形和矩形钢管。作为塔塔确保英国钢铁业务战略背后的关键“高价值”差异化产品线，管材经常用于管材外观与管材强度同等重要的应用。该项目将研究一种系统，该系统能够测量、量化和分类方形和矩形空心型材的表面光洁度，并能够在恶劣的磨机环境中在线操作。在线测量系统将需要新的和创新的方法，以在TS UK恶劣的制造环境中实现高测量分辨率和产量，并补偿残余磨屑造成的凹坑堵塞。TS UK和国家物理实验室(NPL)提出了方形截面管材表面检测的可行性研究和技术演示，这是迈向管材生产过程中质量控制的重要第一步。项目的成功预计将释放对这一关键产品线的进一步合作投资，并转化为其他应用程序。该项目将扩大NPL的维度表面计量专业知识和问题解决能力，使其成为英国一个重要且备受瞩目的行业。

Tata Steel (TS) UK's hollow section business manufactures square and rectangular tubes for theconstruction, lifting and excavating markets. A key ‘high-value’ differentiating product line behind Tata’s strategy to secure UK steel operations, tubes are often used for applications where the cosmetic appearance of the tube is as critical as tube strength. This project will investigate a system which is capable of measuring, quantifying and categorising surface finish for square and rectangular hollow sections and which is capable of operating on-line in a hostile mill environment. An online measurement system will require novel and innovative approaches to achieve high measurement resolution and throughput within TS UK’s hostile manufacturing environment, and to compensate for pit occlusion by residual mill scale. TS UK and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) propose a feasibility study and technology demonstration for surface inspection of square-section tubes, a significant first step towards in-process quality control for tube production. Project success is expected to unlock further collaborative investment for this critical product line, and translation to other applications. This project would expand NPL’s dimensional surface metrology expertise and problem-solving into an important and high profile UK industry.