Rolling is a fabricating process in which the metal, plastic, paper, glass, etc. is passed through a pair (or pairs) of rolls. There are two types of rolling process, flat and profile rolling. In flat rolling the final shape of the product is either classed as sheet (typically thickness less than 3 mm, also called "strip") or plate (typically thickness more than 3 mm). In profile rolling the final product may be a round rod or other shaped bar, such as a structural section (beam, channel, joist etc). Rolling is also classified according to the temperature of the metal rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling. If the temperature of the metal is below its recrystallization temperature, the process is termed as cold rolling. Another process also termed as 'hot bending' is induction bending, whereby the section is heated in small sections and dragged into a required radius.

Heavy plates tend to be formed using a press process, which is termed forming, rather than rolling.

Hot Rolling

Hot rolling is a hot working metalworking process where large pieces of metal, such as slabs or billets, are heated above their recrystallization temperature and then deformed between rollers to form thinner cross sections. Hot rolling produces thinner cross sections than cold rolling processes with the same number of stages. Hot rolling, due to recrystallization, will reduce the average grain size of a metal while maintaining an equiaxed microstructure where as cold rolling will produce a hardened microstructure.