Patent ID: 7081169
Filing Date: 2006-07-25
Classification: B08B,B21B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of removing iron oxide scale from sheet metal and further cold reducing the sheet metal, wherein the iron oxide scale generally comprises a wustite layer that is bonded to a base metal substrate of the sheet metal, a magnetite layer that is bonded to the wustite layer, and a hematite layer that is bonded to the magnetite layer, the method comprising the steps of: providing a surface conditioning apparatus having at least one surface conditioning member; conditioning a surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by bringing the at least one surface conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal in a manner to remove substantially all of the hematite and magnetite layers from the surface, and in a manner to remove less than substantially all of the wustite layer from the surface so that a portion of the wustite layer remains bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal; and cold reducing the sheet metal with the wustite layer that remains bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal.