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 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.