Method for producing mat-surfaced austenitic stainless steel strips

Process for the continuous manufacture of an austenitic stainless steel strip (3) having a dull surface appearance with a brightness of less than 30 and an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of greater than 0.12 μm, of the annealed/pickled type, comprising the steps consisting in:

• subjecting a cold-rolled austenitic stainless steel strip (3) to a heat treatment in a bright annealing furnace (1) inside which a flushing gas chosen from inert or reducing gases, having a dew point above −15° C. circulates, said flushing gas optionally comprising less than 1% oxygen by volume or less than 1% air by volume, said heat treatment comprising a heating phase at a heating rate V1, a soak phase at a temperature T for a soak time M, followed by a cooling phase at a cooling rate V2, in order to obtain a strip (3) covered with an oxide layer;
• and
• pickling the strip (3) having undergone the heat treatment, using an acid pickling solution suitable for completely removing said oxide layer according to its thickness and its nature.