Surface Analysis Applied to Cold Rolled Steel Sheets

Just as observed for other materials, the surface properties of steel sheets are to day of increasing importance for many applications; it is particularly true for cold-rolled steel sheets as used in automotive industry for car body making, because surface properties may have a significant impact in fabrication operation such as finishing treatments where they affect the corrosion resistance of painted panels (1). A few years ago, substantial evidence was given that surface carbon pollution observed in some cases on temper-rolled steel sheets was the main contaminant responsible for corrosion performance of painted steel panels (2, 3, 4, 5). For such reasons steel industry carries out large research programs devoted not just to defining the different sources of surface pollutions but really to developing a deeper understanding of the steel processing - steel properties relationships (6).