Method for descaling hot rolled strip

A method of producing cold rolled metal strip from hot processed metal without acid pickling the hot processed strip prior to cold rolling, comprising:

• providing a hot processed steel strip covered with scale,
• stretching the strip in tension at least 1% to crack the scale and to flatten the strip,
• particle blasting the surfaces of the elongated strip to remove the scale,
• cleaning the surfaces to remove any residual scale with at least two cleaning brushes positioned adjacent to each surface and rotated in opposite directions relative to each other,
• the cleaning brushes having bristles of a diameter of 0.13-0.50 mm,
• polishing each cleaned surface with at least one polishing brush whereby the surfaces of the strip have a rougliness less than 1.5 micron Ra, and
• cold reducing the strip without pickling prior to the cold reduction so that the surfaces have a roughness of less than 0.4 micron Ra.

A method of producing cold rolled metal strip from hot processed metal without acid pickling the hot processed strip prior to cold rolling, comprising:

• providing a hot processed stainless steel strip covered with scale,
• stretching the strip in tension at least 1% to crack the scale and to flatten the strip,
• particle blasting the surfaces of the elongated strip to remove the scale,
• cleaning the surfaces to remove any residual scale with at least two cleaning brushes positioned adjacent to each surface and rotated in opposite directions relative to each other,
• the cleaning brushes having a surface density greater than 12% and having wire bristles of a diameter of 0.13-0.50 mm,
• polishing each cleaned surface with at least one polishing brush whereby the surfaces of the strip have a roughness no more than 1.5 micron Ra, and
• cold reducing the polished strip without pickling prior to the cold reduction so that the surfaces have a roughness of no more than 0.3 micron Ra.

A method of removing scale from hot processed strip without acid pickling, comprising:

• providing a hot processed metal strip covered with scale,
• stretching the strip in tension to crack the scale and to flatten the strip,
• particle blasting each surface of the elongated strip with particles to remove the scale and to provide a surface having a predetermined roughness, and
• cleaning the surfaces without acid pickling to remove any residual scale, the cleaning performed with at least two brushes positioned adjacent to each surface and rotated in opposite directions relative to each other, whereby the cleaned surfaces of the strip have a roughness less than 3.6 micron Ra.