Process for assisting in the removal of scale from alloy steel

Claim 1

IN THE PROCESSING OF METALS CONTAINING AT LEAST ONE STEEL-ALLOYING THAT FORMS AN ACIDIC OXIDE, WHICH PROCESSING INCLUDES A STEP OF HEAT TREATING THE METAL IN AN OXIDIZING ATMOSPHERE, THE IMPROVEMENT FOR PREVENTING THE FORMATION OF DENSE, FIRMLY ADHERENT OXIDES ON THE SURFACE OF THE METAL DURING THE HEAT TREATING STEP, WHICH IMPROVEMENT CONSISTS IN COATING THE METAL PRIOR TO THE HEAT TREATING STEP WITH AN OXYGEN-CONTAINING METAL COMPOUND WHICH FORMS AN ALKALINE REACTING SUBSTANCE ON THERMAL DECOMPOSITION, SAID COMPOUND BEING SELECTED FROM A GROUP CONSISTING OF ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDES, ALKALINE EARTH HYDROXIDES AND OXYGEN-CONTAINING ALKALI METAL SALTS, WHEREBY THE HEAT TREATING STEP IN THE OXIDIZING ENVIRONMENT CAUSES THE ACIDIC OXIDE OF THE STEELALLOYING METAL TO BE CONVERTED INTO A COMPOUND CAPABLE OF SOLUTION IN AN ACID PICKLING SOLUTION AND THEN PICKLING THE THUS PROCESSED METAL IN AN AQUEOUS INORGANIC ACID PICKLING SOLUTION AFTER THE HEAT TREATING STEP.