Investigation of oxidation processes of steels under laboratory and industrial conditions

One of the most important factors in the oxidation process of steels is the chemical composition of the material. The effect of the chemical elements present in the steel on the characteristic features of the oxide layers has been investigated by several researchers, and it was proved that these ele ments play an important role not only in the development of the oxide layer s but also in the adhesion of these layers to the base metal. From the poin t of view of industrial users, this property is of great importance, since after the different heat treatments and manufacturing steps the oxide layer should be removed. In the experimental work presented in this paper, the s tructure and composition of oxide layers formed under laboratory and indust rial conditions were investigated. The aim of these experiments was to dete rmine which parameters influence the adhesion of the oxide layers. During t he tests, x-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy were applied . It was shown that alloying elements, especially silicon, have a large eff ect to the removability of the scale. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.