Method of removing scale and inhibiting oxidation and cold rolling sheet metal

A method of removing iron oxide scale from sheet metal and further cold reducing the sheet metal, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a surface conditioning apparatus having at least one rotating conditioning member;
• conditioning a surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by bringing the at least one rotating conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal in a manner to remove some, but less than substantially all of the iron oxide scale from the surface so that a layer of oxide scale remains bonded to a base metal substrate of the sheet metal, and in a manner to reduce an arithmetic mean of distances of departure of peaks and valleys on the surface, measured from a mean center line, to less than 50 micro inches;
• and
• then cold reducing the sheet metal.

A method of removing iron oxide scale from sheet metal and 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 rotating conditioning member with a generally cylindrical conditioning surface;
• and
• conditioning a surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by bringing the generally cylindrical conditioning surface of 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 portion of the wustite layer remaining bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal.

A method of removing rust from sheet metal surfaces and cold reducing the sheet metal, where the rust generally comprises a wustite layer bonded to the sheet metal surface, a magnetite layer bonded to the wustite layer, and a hematite layer bonded to the magnetite layer, the method comprising:

• providing a surface conditioning apparatus having a surface conditioning member;
• conditioning the surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by the surface conditioning member removing substantially all of the hematite layer and the magnetite layer from the surface so that a portion of the wustite layer remains bonded to the sheet metal surface;
• and,
• then cold reducing the sheet metal with the portion of the wustite layer on the sheet metal surface.