Objective
Slab soaking, hot rolling and annealing after cold rolling are some of the processes that result in the formation of heavy oxide scales on stainless steels. The removal of these oxide masses has a tremendous incidence on final product cost due to the loss of scarce materials, nickel and chromium, and the use of chemicals required for pickling such oxides, and also on the environment through the production of polluting wastes. Stainless steels are used for components, which are required to withstand high temperature oxidation, according to temperature, gas phase composition and heating/cooling cycles. The aim of this research project is to design low cost procedures for improving the high temperature behaviour of conventional stainless steels by means of surface modifications using rare earth elements.