Measurements of friction in rolling of aluminium strip on an experimental mill are described. Friction depended most strongly on the ratio Λ of the smooth film thickness to the combined roughness of the roll and strip, and on the reduction in strip thickness. Whether the greater roughness was on the roll or on the strip was found to be unimportant. Varying the oil temperature from 40 to 60°C was also found to be of secondary importance. Profilometry results suggested that friction was determined by the mean film thickness between the surfaces. At the slowest speeds and smallest films, friction was close to the value of 0.09 found in separate measurements in a disk machine of the boundary additive properties. At the highest speed the friction values, which were less than 0.01, could be explained by hydrodynamic lubrication. The transition between these two extremes occurred when the film thickness was of the order of the additive molecule length of 3 nm.
