At the hot strip mill, two different important trends are being observed: the development of thinner hot strips for direct applications as a substitute for cold rolled and annealed sheets; and the production of strip of increased strength, for various applications, which requires an adequate balance of ductility, formability, weldability, fatigue resistance, toughness, and/or crash resistance. In these grades the absence of internal stresses is also often required. The development of new rolling and cooling technologies that allow the production at low cost of new grades with better reproducibility and consistency of the mechanical properties is reviewed.
