Optimizing Hydraulic Descaler Performance through Improved Monitoring and Maintenance

摘要

The surface finish of steel products is of utmost important for its appearance, however it also influences downstream process steps such as hot rolling, pickling or galvanizing (adhesion) as well as technical aspects such as defect classification. One of the main contributing factors to poor steel surfaces is (remnant) scale which may become rolled-in (rolled in scale). In hot strip mill processing, it is therefore desirable to control scale growth and remove it effectively. This is performed in most cases by high pressure water (HPW) descaling in hot strip mills. This processing step aims at assuring smooth rolling and reducing surface defects, but if improperly administered, can also create surface defects. For this reason, optimizing the descaling operations of a hot strip mill is vital. Much literature assesses the performance of descalers, and in particular, Blazevic has proposed many analyses of the descaling process [l,2].