When a band steel is heated and su㏄esively cooled, moving with no support under it, in a long horizontal furnace called a catenary furnace, it deflects like a catenary because of the weight of itself. In some cases, the deflection of the band steel increases and then decreases periodically. This is called the lateral vibration of a band Steel.
In this paper, the vibration system is simulated with a simple experimental system using a paper-tape for computers instead of a band steel. It is found that the vibration is a kind of relaxation oscillations due to the fluctuation of the friction force among the draw-outer (a reel which draws out the coiled paper-tape) and the brake band which brakes the draw-outer in order to reduce the deflection of the paper-tape.