METAL SURFACE SCALE CONDITIONING METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREOF

Methods and systems are provided for treating oxide scale on the surface of a metal object. In one embodiment, a system temperature control apparatus controls the temperature of metal object's surface to an application temperature below the Leidenfrost temperature point of an alkali metal hydroxide aqueous conditioning solution. An application apparatus wets the metal object's surface at the controlled temperature with a thin layer of the solution that engages the oxide scale, and a heating apparatus heats the wetted surface to a final conditioning temperature above a melting point of the alkali metal hydroxide by an additional value selected to effect conditioning of the oxide scale at a reasonable but not excessive rate by the melting alkali metal hydroxide reacting with the oxide scale. The system terminates additional conditioning to prevent creation of additional oxide scale beyond the conditioned depth.