Additional information: Pickling of steel wire
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Chemical Descaling (Pickling) of Wire Rod
In chemical descaling the mill scale is removed by dissolving in acid. Acids used are:
- Sulphuric or hydrochloric acid for low carbon wire.
- Hydrochloric acid for high carbon wire.
Pickling is mostly done in a batch process. Each roll of wire rod is immersed in the acid bath. The acid slowly dissolves the oxide layer by transforming it into iron chlorides or sulphates. When pickling in HCl an H2-inhibitor is used to suppress the reaction: 2 HCl + Fe -> FeCl2 + H2 and reduce the unwanted loss of iron. After pickling the wire rod coils are rinsed in water. This is usually done in cascade rinsing (e.g. rinsing 3 times) to yield
Source: BAT Surface Treatment of Metals and Plastic, Aug. 2006.
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