Controlling Oxide Formation in 1010 Steel: Laboratory Simulation of Industrial Quench Spray

An issue with hot rolling of low carbon steel is that it has relatively low corrosion resistance and will commonly sit in coils in inventory, where rust can form easily before it is put to use. The end user will have to surface treat the product to remove the rust or scale formed after rolling before it is used. A new product has been developed by our industrial partner, Quaker Chemical Corporation, that could potentially avoid this unwanted oxidation after production. At the end of the hot rolling process a chemical spray is applied while the steel is still at elevated temperature. This creates a coherent protective oxide layer, which protects the steel from localized oxidation. This study sought out to reproduce conditions in the mill, through heat treatment of steel samples followed by quenching with the chemical product of undisclosed composition at high pressure. Characterization of the samples was done to determine relationships of temperature, pressure, and flow conditions on the efficacy of creating a protective oxide layer. The objective was to learn as much as possible about the interaction of the chemical spray with low carbon steel at elevated temperatures, and potentially optimize the use of this spray within hot rolling mills. It was discovered that the steel temperature and flow conditions during application have the greatest impact on the SB-99S reaction, while the effects of pressure of fluid application did not give any common trend within the results.