Continuous Casting Billet Acid Pickling Test Principle and Method
Introduction
Continuous casting billets are steels that are solidified after continuous casting. As a major steel production processes in the steel industry, continuous casting has distinct advantages compared to other traditional ingot casting processes. The acid pickling test is a conventional method used to test the quality of continuous casting billets. The acid pickling test on a continuous casting billet can provide important information on its casting quality, microstructure and other properties.
Test Principle
Acid pickling is an important test method to determine the properties of continuous casting billets. In the test process, acid pickling solution will consume oxygen in the microstructure of the steel, as well as any hydrogen or carbon residue. As a result, the surface of continuous casting billets will be stretched, which can be observed visually or photographed through a microscope. After the acid pickling treatment, the distribution and size of the grains and other structures such as ferrite and pearlite can be observed.
Test Procedure
The acid pickling test of continuous casting billets requires several steps, which are as follows:
1. Prepare the test specimen. Test sample must remove all surface contamination and heating scale before testing.
2. Heat the specimen to a temperature of 1000-1100℃ and hold for 15-20 minutes. This step should ensure that the test specimen is at an equilibrium temperature.
3. Quickly transfer the specimen to the pickling solution. Determine the required pickling time according to the size of the sample and the desired outcome of the test.
4. Take out the specimen from the solution and remove residual acid with water.
5. Observe the pickled surface of the specimen through optical or electron microscopy techniques.
Conclusion
The acid pickling test is a useful technique for examining the quality of continuous casting billets. The acid pickling test can give important information about the casting quality, microstructure and other properties of the continuous casting billet. By performing the acid pickling test, manufacturers can obtain valuable information regarding the qualiity of their continuous casting billets, which can be used to make improvements and ensure the quality of their products.
