6. Conclusion

Rolling mill modelling is just a few years away from celebrating its centenary, with the centenary of von Karman's paper, the originator of the slice method. , which led to an understanding of the mechanics of rolling and laid the foundations for the design of sheet rolling mills. Subsequent major developments for flat products focused on :

• roll deformation and its influence on rolling force, or concepts such as "limit reduction" (or minimum thickness achievable by rolling). The problem can be considered settled, in the sense that satisfactory off-line methods have been available since...