Advances in Rolling Process of Metallic Materials: Measurement, Modeling, Optimization and Applications

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 834

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Engineering and Technology, University of Science and Technology, Kunlun Road, Changping District, Beijing, China
Interests: vision-based measurement; mechanical behavior and control in strip rolling process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, which is dedicated to supporting the high-quality development of the iron, steel, and non-ferrous metals industries. As an essential step in transforming metallic materials into finished products, metal rolling currently addresses several critical challenges, including disparities in process technological capabilities, insufficient product homogeneity and stability, and a relatively low degree of intelligence. In recent years, researchers have endevoured to address key technical bottlenecks, resulting in innovative advances. Concurrently, the pursuit of green, efficient, low-carbon, and intelligent rolling technologies has become both an urgent requirement and a central strategic direction in the high-quality transformation of metal manufacturing. These developments are vital not only for strengthening the core competitiveness of enterprises in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, but also for advancing the sustainable development of the global metallic materials manufacturing industry.

This Special Issue seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of rolling technology and facilitate the exchange of knowledge regarding key challenges and innovative accomplishments in the field. It also aims to explore future development trajectories for green, efficient, low-carbon, and intelligent rolling processes, with emphasis on the core themes of digitalization, greening, carbon reduction, and high efficiency in technological innovation.

We welcome the submission of original research articles and reviews. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

  • Recent advances and future trends in rolling technologies;
  • Development and application of online quality inspection technologies;
  • High-precision modeling and control techniques for rolling processes;
  • Applications of industrial big data analytics in rolling production;
  • Artificial intelligence algorithms and smart factory implementation;
  • Innovations in rolling processes and product development for high-quality metallic materials;
  • Rolling production equipment, instrumentation, heating, heat treatment, and related technologies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Dong Xu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rolling process
  • measurement
  • modeling
  • optimization
  • industrial big data analytics
  • applications

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 4698 KB  
Article
Robust Feature Recognition of Slab Edges in Complex Industrial Environments Based on a Deep Dense Perception Network Model
by Yang Liu, Meiqin Liang, Xuejun Zhang and Junqi Yuan
Metals 2026, 16(4), 378; https://doi.org/10.3390/met16040378 - 28 Mar 2026
Viewed by 407
Abstract
Defect detection in the hot rolling process is closely linked to the quality of the final product. Among these defects, slab camber during the intermediate rolling stage is one of the primary manifestations of asymmetry, which significantly impairs both the quality of the [...] Read more.
Defect detection in the hot rolling process is closely linked to the quality of the final product. Among these defects, slab camber during the intermediate rolling stage is one of the primary manifestations of asymmetry, which significantly impairs both the quality of the finished strip and the stability of subsequent rolling processes. Conventional image-based edge detection methods for slab camber are prone to detection deviations in complex industrial environments, mainly due to their weak noise robustness. To address the scientific challenge of low accuracy and poor robustness in feature extraction for hot-rolled intermediate slab camber detection, which is induced by environmental interference in complex industrial settings, we break through the technical bottlenecks of traditional edge detection methods and existing deep learning models in terms of channel–spatial feature collaborative optimization and anti-interference fusion of multi-scale features. We establish a dense perception network model integrated with a channel–spatial attention mechanism, realize robust feature recognition of slab edges under complex working conditions, and provide theoretical and technical support for the real-time quantitative detection of slab shape defects in the hot rolling process. The proposed model significantly improves detection accuracy and robustness through multi-scale feature enhancement and noise suppression, effectively meeting the requirements for real-time quantitative detection of slab camber in the roughing rolling stage. Field experiments verify that the method increases detection accuracy by 36.55% and achieves favorable performance on evaluation metrics, including ODS and OIS. Full article
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