To provide an apparatus and a method for cooling a hot-rolled wire material, by which apparatus and method, the uniformity of cooling and the degree of freedom of installation can be advantageously secured.
The apparatus for cooling the hot-rolled wire material comprises a cooling pipe for forcedly cooling the hot-rolled wire material running through the inside thereof. The cooling pipe is divided into a plurality of sections in the circumference of the rolled material, and has a system for supplying refrigerant for every section. Further, every system for supplying refrigerant has a gas blowing system for mixing gas into the refrigerant liquid at an arbitrary ratio. In addition, thermometers for measuring the temperature of the rolled material in at least two sections of a plurality of circumferential sections of the rolled material are arranged on an inlet side and an outlet side of the cooling apparatus. Further, the cooling pipe in the cooling apparatus is arranged such that the pass line of the rolled material has a required curvature or a gradually changing curvature. The cooling condition is controlled for every section in the circumference of the rolled material using the apparatus.
Tetsuo Kanamoto
Miaki Kametani