Descaling ability of low-alloy steel wires depending on composition and rolling process

Abstract Low-alloy steels made by industrial processes are covered with an iron oxide layer. Descaling is necessary before any shaping operations by wire drawing can be done to transform wires. In order to ease the descaling stage, this oxide layer must have low adhesion. This paper presents a study of the descaling ability of different steels. The results presented in this paper show that it is possible to qualitatively predict the adhesion capacity of the scale depending on the alloy’s composition and on the mechanical and oxidation conditions during the hot rolling stage.