Naxidic Acid is a commercial grade acid, such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, hydrofluoric or phosphoric which has been treated with the appropriate Naxid activator to improve the properties of that acid. The power of Naxidic acid can be illustrated two ways: First the ability to react with certain metals and form salts (corrosion) and secondly the ability to react with alkalies and form salts (neutralization).
When applied to pickling steel the Naxidic acid releases all the latent energy of the acid to remove the scale layer(s) quickly and efficiently. The extra power released from the acid is sufficient to choose several courses of action; acid consumption can be reduced up to 10%, temperatures cut up to 20%, inhibitor use cut up to 15%, and surface brightness increased nearly 30%.
The pickling reaction is a function of temperature of the bath and concentration of the acid to get timely scale removal. Increasing either or both results in a shorter time to remove the scale. Conversely, decreasing either or both will lengthen the time to remove the scale. Naxidic Acid being more active than a conventional acid lets you do more work with less acid or more work at a lower temperature. Either choice results in spending less money to pickle a day’s work.
Mill scale is not a simple iron oxide but one which is very complex and its timely removal depends on an acid which is ready to react with even the toughest combination of oxides. When conventional acid meets up with this situation immersion times may be increased to assure removal. The same oxide pickled with Naxidic Acid is more likely to be removed in its normal time.
Naxidic acid, although more powerful than conventional acid is not an expensive upgrade. The money saved through improved acid consumption , energy conservation, and related labor savings well exceeds the slight surcharge for the Naxidic conversion.