Oxide Fracture Mechanisms in Descaling of Steel Strips on the Hot Strip Mill

Abstract : The descaling operation on a Hot Strip Mill (HSM) uses high pressure water jets to remove the thick, hard and brittle oxide scale, in order to avoid oxide embedding into the metal which degrades surface finish. A thermal and mechanical analysis of the impact of the water jets has been performed by the Finite Element Method (FEM). The differential contraction of the oxide and metal under this brutal cooling are described, with the resulting network of cracks and the oxide flakes. The main process parameters are disclosed.