HiJetRod Pilot – Resource-efficient hydromechanical descaling system for wire coils

Initial situation

Descaling of stainless steel wire requires several pickling steps with high consumption of chemicals and long treatment time.
Stainless steel grades that are difficult to descale have to be treated with up to 100 % of double passages of the wire coils through the pickling line.
In the forerunner project HiJetRod a process for hydromechanical descaling of wire coils has been developed.

Project objectives

Scale-free surface of wires after a single passage through the pickling line, including high-alloyed steel grades
Avoiding double passages through the pickling line and increasing production capacity
Reduction of water and energy consumption of hydromechanical descaling
Demonstration of hydromechnical descaling in pilot tests
Quantification of process benefits (reduction of treatment time and acid consumption)

Innovative process approaches

Use of new pulsating nozzles for efficient descaling
New concept for coil rotation to minimize contact marks due to wire-wire contact
Pilot tests for determination of efficiency including life cycle assessment

Current results (as of 03/2018)

First pilot tests have shown the efficiency of hydromechanical descaling for 13 stainless steel grades.
In laboratory tests, pulsating nozzles have shown better descaling results than flat fan nozzles. However, for utilization in pilot installations their start-up behavior has to be improved.
Contact marks due to wire-wire contact can be minimized with a modified turning mandrel.
A representation of the descaling process has been set up with the program SIMBA# for development of a water recycling concept.

Outlook

Pilot tests for a wide range of stainless steel wire coils, determination of descaling efficiency, resource consumption and maintenance effort
Life cycle assessment for process evaluation

Applications and transferability of the hydromechanical descaling process

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