Examination of oxide scales of hot rolled steel products

Abstract

Porosities in the scale layer and wavy scale-steel interfaces are two common artefacts generated during metallographic preparation of oxide scale samples. This paper presents the techniques used by the authors to effectively remove porosities in the scale and reduce the waviness of the scale-steel interface so that the true scale structures can be examined. The techniques have been successfully applied to the examination of oxide scales on hot-rolled steel with various thicknesses and structures. © 2005 ISIJ.