Os defeitos superficiais são os maiores problemas de qualidade em barras laminadas a quente, representando inúmeros transtornos durante o processo produtivo, pois dependendo de suas características geram elevada rejeição durante o processo de inspeção. Elevada rejeição significa retrabalho e possível sucateamento. Dentre as diversas causas para a ocorrência de defeitos superficiais, estão os defeitos nos tarugos, a temperatura de laminação, conseqüência da temperatura de reaquecimento e ritmo de laminação e a remoção de carepa após o reaquecimento. Definiu-se o aço SAE 1043 para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho devido aos níveis de rejeição superficial e elevados volumes de produção, o que gera grande impacto na produção das linhas de inspeção. Os resultados obtidos a partir dos testes realizados demonstram que a temperatura de laminação até determinado limite não tem influência na rejeição superficial, mas que abaixo deste gera elevado índice de rejeição. O uso do descarepador tem grande influencia nos níveis de defeitos superficiais, e o controle de seus parâmetros principais é fundamental. O condicionamento superficial dos tarugos é o parâmetro que mais apresentou influência positiva sobre a rejeição superficial, demonstrando que defeitos pré-existentes na matéria-prima têm grande impacto no produto final da laminação. / Surface defects are major quality problems in hot rolled bars, representing numerous disturbances during the production process, as depending on their characteristics generate high rejection during the inspection process. High rejection means rework and scrap. Among the various causes for the occurrence of surface defects are defects in the billets, rolling temperature, a consequence of the reheating temperature and rate of roll and removal of scale after reheating. The steel SAE 1043 used in this work was selected due to its level of surface defects and high production volumes, which generates large impact on production inspection process. The results show that the rolling temperature of up to a certain limit does not influence the surface defects, but below this generates a high rate of rejection. The use of descaling has a large influence on the levels of surface defects, and control of its main parameters is essential. The surface conditioning of billets is the parameter that showed a positive influence on the reduction of surface defects, demonstrating that pre-existing defects in materials has large impact on the final rolled product.

Os defeitos superficiais são os maiores problemas de qualidade em barras laminadas a quente, representando inúmeros transtornos durante o processo produtivo, pois dependendo de suas características geram elevada rejeição durante o processo de inspeção. Elevada rejeição significa retrabalho e possível sucateamento. Dentre as diversas causas para a ocorrência de defeitos superficiais, estão os defeitos nos tarugos, a temperatura de laminação, conseqüência da temperatura de reaquecimento e ritmo de laminação e a remoção de carepa após o reaquecimento. Definiu-se o aço SAE 1043 para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho devido aos níveis de rejeição superficial e elevados volumes de produção, o que gera grande impacto na produção das linhas de inspeção. Os resultados obtidos a partir dos testes realizados demonstram que a temperatura de laminação até determinado limite não tem influência na rejeição superficial, mas que abaixo deste gera elevado índice de rejeição. O uso do descarepador tem grande influencia nos níveis de defeitos superficiais, e o controle de seus parâmetros principais é fundamental. O condicionamento superficial dos tarugos é o parâmetro que mais apresentou influência positiva sobre a rejeição superficial, demonstrando que defeitos pré-existentes na matéria-prima têm grande impacto no produto final da laminação. / Surface defects are major quality problems in hot rolled bars, representing numerous disturbances during the production process, as depending on their characteristics generate high rejection during the inspection process. High rejection means rework and scrap. Among the various causes for the occurrence of surface defects are defects in the billets, rolling temperature, a consequence of the reheating temperature and rate of roll and removal of scale after reheating. The steel SAE 1043 used in this work was selected due to its level of surface defects and high production volumes, which generates large impact on production inspection process. The results show that the rolling temperature of up to a certain limit does not influence the surface defects, but below this generates a high rate of rejection. The use of descaling has a large influence on the levels of surface defects, and control of its main parameters is essential. The surface conditioning of billets is the parameter that showed a positive influence on the reduction of surface defects, demonstrating that pre-existing defects in materials has large impact on the final rolled product.

Os defeitos superficiais são os maiores problemas de qualidade em barras laminadas a quente, representando inúmeros transtornos durante o processo produtivo, pois dependendo de suas características geram elevada rejeição durante o processo de inspeção. Elevada rejeição significa retrabalho e possível sucateamento. Dentre as diversas causas para a ocorrência de defeitos superficiais, estão os defeitos nos tarugos, a temperatura de laminação, conseqüência da temperatura de reaquecimento e ritmo de laminação e a remoção de carepa após o reaquecimento. Definiu-se o aço SAE 1043 para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho devido aos níveis de rejeição superficial e elevados volumes de produção, o que gera grande impacto na produção das linhas de inspeção. Os resultados obtidos a partir dos testes realizados demonstram que a temperatura de laminação até determinado limite não tem influência na rejeição superficial, mas que abaixo deste gera elevado índice de rejeição. O uso do descarepador tem grande influencia nos níveis de defeitos superficiais, e o controle de seus parâmetros principais é fundamental. O condicionamento superficial dos tarugos é o parâmetro que mais apresentou influência positiva sobre a rejeição superficial, demonstrando que defeitos pré-existentes na matéria-prima têm grande impacto no produto final da laminação. / Surface defects are major quality problems in hot rolled bars, representing numerous disturbances during the production process, as depending on their characteristics generate high rejection during the inspection process. High rejection means rework and scrap. Among the various causes for the occurrence of surface defects are defects in the billets, rolling temperature, a consequence of the reheating temperature and rate of roll and removal of scale after reheating. The steel SAE 1043 used in this work was selected due to its level of surface defects and high production volumes, which generates large impact on production inspection process. The results show that the rolling temperature of up to a certain limit does not influence the surface defects, but below this generates a high rate of rejection. The use of descaling has a large influence on the levels of surface defects, and control of its main parameters is essential. The surface conditioning of billets is the parameter that showed a positive influence on the reduction of surface defects, demonstrating that pre-existing defects in materials has large impact on the final rolled product.

Effects of mould flux contaminant on scale-steel adhesion and hydraulic descaling of scale formed on slabs were investigated. In this investigation, stainless steel type 304 (austenitic with 18% Cr and 8% Ni) and specific mould fluxes were used when growing the scale on contaminated samples under simulated industrial reheating conditions, with subsequent high pressure water hydraulic descaling. The basic hypothesis was that the steel-scale adhesion depends on the microstructure of different phases present in the scale, the segregation of specific elements at the interface and the interfacial morphology of the scale after reheating. It was found that mould flux contaminant decreases scale-steel adhesion and therefore improved the descaling effectiveness significantly compared to non contaminated stainless steel. The descaling effectiveness of contaminated and uncontaminated slab was dependent to the presence of metal free paths (chromite layers along the austenite grains boundaries) and the presence of unoxidized metal in the scale due to nickel enrichment at the interface. Compared to the uncontaminated samples, the descaling of contaminated samples was efficient which could be due to the fact that some mechanisms which increase scale– steel adhesion (notably nickel enrichment at the interface) were considerably reduced. For all contaminated samples, the descaling effectiveness after visual observation were close to 100% and it was found that mould flux type 832 ( low basicity) gave a high descaling efficiency with better steel surface quality after descaling compared to mould fluxes type 810 and RF1. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering / unrestricted

The thesis summarizes general and up-to-date knowledge of descaling during the continuous production of the hot-rolled steel and proposes further streamlining of this process in industrial production. The first chapter of the thesis deals with the origin, structure and physical properties of the scales. The second chapter describes the principles of descaling by using a high pressure flat water jet. The third chapter introduces the principles of the experimental methods and describes the used laboratory equipment. The fourth chapter summarizes the description of the particular experiments and their evaluation, and thus represents the focus of the dissertation. It is divided into six sections which independently solve predefined objectives of the dissertation. The first section focuses on the height and structure development of the scales on 54SiCr6 and HDT580X steels. It has been proven that the height of the formed scales increases with the time and temperature of the oxidation. The layered nature of the scales was verified at the same time. The second section examines the effect of the nozzle stabilizer on the focussing and distribution of the impact pressure of the nozzle. Experiments have shown that increase of 11 % of an average maximum nozzle pressure can be achieved, depending on the type of nozzle and the length of the stabilizer. The third section deals with the analysis of shadowgraphy images of water jet structures of the nozzles. A script was developed for analysis of these shadowgraphy photos by an adaptive thresholding. The findings are correlated using a regression analysis with an average heat transfer coefficient. It has been reported that most of the standard nozzle configurations produced disintegrated stream of little droplets at the height of the rolled surface. The fourth section focuses on the area of water jet overlap, especially the area of the so-called washout, where the impact pressure of one nozzle is reduced by the nozzle stream of the other. The influence of the pressure change and the mutual displacement of the nozzles is investigated. The analysis showed that the change of pressure did not have any effect on the percentage of reduction of the impact pressure in the area of the washout. It has been shown that if the area of the washout is wide the descaling efficiency in this area may be reduced. The fifth section builds on the previous section and focuses directly on the areas of waterjet overlaps. The influence of the change of rotation and pitch of the nozzles is studied. Experiments have shown that small changes in nozzle pitch do not have a significant impact on impact pressure and heat transfer coefficient. The effect of nozzle rotation, on the other hand, was a significant factor for the efficiency and homogeneity of the descaling of the surface. The last section deals with the effect of the rolling speed on the heat transfer coefficient in the descaling process. The regression model has shown that with a higher rolling speed there is a reduction in the average heat transfer coefficient. Conclusion summarizes the results of the dissertation and proposes which findings can be used in the industry to make the descaling process more effective.