The historic and shop-floor practice of submerging iron, steel, or copper alloys in a vat of sulfuric acid. The acid attacks the oxide scale left behind by hot rolling or forging, leaving a clean, bare metal surface. This chemical descaling is a mandatory preparation step before cold rolling, galvanizing, or electroplating.
Heard on the job
Make sure you vitriol those hot-rolled sheets thoroughly or the scale will ruin the cold mill rolls.
Also heard as
- pickle