Development of a tool for predicting oxides scales and tensile properties of Stelmor-cooled wire rod

In industrial practice, it is known that the wire rod coils need to be descaled before drawing. Acid pickling by hydrochloric or sulphuric acidic solutions is the most common method. However, mechanical descaling could be preferred. According to this choice, the oxides type and morphology shall be different. The oxides nature can be controlled by the Stelmor parameters, that is, the temperature at the laying head and the cooling rate on the Stelmor conveyor. International standards and customer specifications prescribe precise requirements not only for the scale features, but also for the material mechanical resistance and deformability. So, a complicated plant set-up is needed to satisfy all the requirements. This research work is aimed at developing processing maps for the correct selection of the Stelmor parameters able to guarantee the required mechanical strength and surface scale suitable for acid pickling or mechanical descaling.