Mechanical descaling of wire rod using reverse bending and brushing

Wire rods are covered with an oxide layer, which must be removed before wire drawing. This paper presents an investigation of mechanical descaling by reverse bending and brushing as replacement for pickling. Steel grades studied were low carbon steel and silicon chromium steel. Brushing was done with steel brushes and nylon brushes with SiC. The amount of scale remaining after reverse bending of the low carbon steel depended on the roller diameter. After brushing traces of scale remained in valleys on the surface. Surface damage was observed after brushing with steel brushes but not after SiC-nylon brushing. Silicon chromium alloyed steel was not possible to clean by bending and brushing with the roller diameters studied. The electrical energy required for the mechanical descaling of low C steel may be estimated to be 7 kWh/tonne with SiC-nylon brushes and 14 kWh/tonne with steel brushes. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.