Rolling is reducing or changing the cross-sectional area of a workpiece by the compressive forces exerted by rotating rolls.
The original material fed into the rolls is usually an ingot from a foundry. The largest product in hot rolling is
called a bloom; by successive hot- and then cold-rolling operations the bloom is reduced to a billet, slab, plate,
sheet, strip, and foil, in decreasing order of thickness and size. The initial breakdown of the ingot by rolling
changes the coarse-grained, brittle, and porous structure into a wrought structure with greater ductility and finer
grain size.
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