Characterization of steel billet scales generated during the continuous casting process in SIDERPERU steel plant

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Tons of waste is produced during iron steel’s industrial production, creating environmental pollution. This work aims to characterize the steel scale formed on the billet surface during the last step of steel production in the SIDERPERU steel plant. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) shows stacked layers one above the other on steel billets scales surface. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) reveal the high content of Fe and O, with Ca, Si, Mn, and Cr as minority elemental compounds. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) shows FeO, α-Fe<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> and Fe<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> as crystallographic phases. Magnetometry reveals Verwey transition and paramagnetic signals that screen the Morin transition. Mössbauer Spectroscopy at room temperature displays magnetic and non-magnetic parts. The non-magnetic part has the hyperfine parameters corresponding to predominant nonstoichiometric wustite. Octahedral (Fe<jats:sup>+2</jats:sup>/Fe<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup>) and tetrahedral Fe<jats:sup>+3</jats:sup> hyperfine fields of 46.0 and 49.4 T values respectively are associated to nonstoichiometric magnetite and another sextet with a hyperfine field of 52.0 T is related to hematite.</jats:p>