Scale Formation on Low Carbon Wire Rod During Hot Rolling: Microscopy and Thermodynamic Analysis

High‐temperature oxidation in steel wire rolling causes scale, leading to metallic loss and reduced efficiency, crucial for wire drawing. There are two different descaling procedures—mechanical or chemical—which are used depending on the characteristics of the oxide scale required in the product. To maintain high productivity and avoid processing defects in the wire, it is essential to characterize oxide development concerning Stelmor process conditions. This study focuses on understanding the adequate oxide scale development for mechanical descaling in low‐carbon wire rods subjected to anisothermal oxidation during rolling. To carry out a process of quality control, it is necessary to develop of a fast methodology for the characterization of layer thickness and oxide types within the scale. The main objective of this study is to characterize the oxide scale development in low‐carbon wire rods under complex anisothermal oxidation at different temperatures (890 and 970 °C) conditions to provide the required product. Different microscopy techniques (including structural orientational aspects with electron backscatter diffraction technique are applied and correlated with thermodynamic simulations carried out by FactSage 8.1, at both industrial processing conditions of the material. The information demonstrates that the better low‐carbon wire process condition to guarantee the mechanical descaling required is 970 °C.