Method for Antirust Treatment of Steel Stocks

The present invention relates to antirust treatment of steel stocks or materials such as hot-rolled pickled steel plate, cold-rolled steel plate, cast iron and so on.

Usually surface treatment is applied to the surface of cold-rolled steel plates, etc. for anticorrosion and preservation of fine appearance.

That is, because a considerable time passes before such various types of steel plates and so on are processed and used, they are coated with an antirust oil or chemically treated or are packed in vaporable antirust paper or are otherwise treated to prevent rust. Any of these prior art methods for anticorrosion, however, has the following drawbacks.

The application of antirust oil will incur, not to mention stickness of oil, the necessity for a degreasing step when the steel plates are in use, followed by the treatment of the exhausted degreasing solution, which is troublesome.

In addition, welding or like processing of materials with antirust oil applied thereto presents problems in that the electrodes become dirty, fuming becomes significant and the preservation of a good working circumstances is adversely affected.

Already publicly known water soluble antirust agents, for example, sodium nitrite, sodium borate, aromatic carboxylic acids, imidazoles, amines and surfactants are used alone or in combination. However, their antirust effect is useful mainly in water or in the air, and is rather poor when the steel plates contact one another in a wet atmosphere or under conditions where water is attached to them or when they are stacked at high temperature and high humidity, namely, in a wet box as specified by JIS Z-0228. Further, there are antirust agents with higher aliphatic amines or higher fatty acids incorporated therein. However, they also have drawbacks that their drying characteristics are bad and that a removal step is required as in the case of the use of antirust oil.

The inventors of the present invention have already discovered that 1-hydroxybenzotriazole has an excellent antirust effect for steel stocks as is described in Japanese patent publication No. 27694/78. However, it has been found that there is in this case a weakness that the discoloration or staining is produced in some cases if water is dropped on a treated steel plate, and another treated one is stacked thereon and allowed to stand at high temperature and high humidity atmosphere, although their antirust properties are very excellent after they are subjected to hot-air drying.

The present invention has overcome these drawbacks of the prior art methods and has further made it possible to exert an extremely good antirust effect without necessity for any further treatment in the subsequent steps.

In summary, the present invention is characterized by adjusting an aqueous solution of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid to within a neutral range with a neutralizing agent and applying the adjusted solution to the surface of metals to form an antirust coating.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to antirust ones in a particular environment. The antirust effects are excellent not only in water but also in the air, and in an acidic atmosphere or in an atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity where water droplets are present between the contacted treated steel plates or in other various environments where a temper rolling solution is scattered or its vapor attaches as water droplets on steel plates rolled in a high speed temper rolling step.

According to the present invention, a mixed aqueous solution consisting mainly of a 1-hydroxybenzotriazole compound represented by the general formula: ##STR2## Where X and Y represent hydrogen atoms and hydroxy, alkyl, carboxyl, nitro and sulfonic groups, and containing simultaneously an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, for example, one or more of suberic acid, azelaic acid and brassylic acid, is neutralized with ammonia water, hydrazine or an alkanol amine such as monoethanol amine or triethanol amine to provide an aqueous solution having a pH within the range of 7-10 which is applied to steel stocks. The aqueous solution may be used after a water-soluble high molecular compound or a surfactant is added thereto. Further, the object may be attained by applying to the surface of steel stocks a solution obtained by adding the mixed aqueous solution to an emulsion such as an aqueous mixture of cutting oil, abrasive oil or rolling oil, whereby an antirust coating is formed. In this instance, the concentration of the 1-hydroxybenzotriazole of the above general formula and its derivatives contained in the resulting solution is within the range of 0.01-10% (% used herein is by weight), and the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid added thereto may be employed within the range of 0.01-5%. Particularly preferably, each of the 1-hydroxybenzotriazole, main component, and the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, additive, is used in the range of 0.1-2% from the standpoint of the antirust and economic aspects. Further, a proportion of 0.001-0.5% for the surfactant if added and a proportion of 0.01-2% for the high molecular compound if added are preferred from viewpoints of antirust and uniformity of the resulting coating, which will contribute to the enhancement of the anticorrosive properties.

It is a characteristic feature of the present invention that direct painting or direct plating is possible to the surface of steel stocks treated according to the present invention, which exerts effects equivalent to those of cases where painting or plating is applied to the surface of metals not subjected to any treatment.

Hereunder, there are given examples of the present invention.

An aqueous solution containing 0.5% of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole and 0.3% of azelaic acid was adjusted to pH 8 by the addition of monoethanol amine as the neutralizing agent to give a treating solution. A steel material was subjected to the conventional temper rolling, and water was purposely applied to a part of the steel material at the exit, which was coiled as it was.

An aqueous solution prepared by adding 0.2% azelaic acid and further 0.03% of a nonionic surfactant (a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether) to 0.4% of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole is adjusted to pH 8 by the addition of monoethanol amine as the neutralizing agent to give a treating solution. This treating solution is sprayed continuously over a surface-cleaned cold-rolled steel plate. Immediately thereafter, the plate is treated with rubber rolls and dried with a drier.

An aqueous solution prepared by adding 0.3% of sebacic acid and 0.1% of an acrylic resin, a water-soluble high molecular material, to 0.4% of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole is adjusted to pH 8 by the addition of triethanolamine as the neutralizing agent to prepare a treating solution. This treating solution is sprayed continuously over a surface-cleaned cold-rolled steel plate, and immediately the plate is treated by rubber rolls and dried with a drier.

The results of antirust tests using steel plates treated according to the above method of the present invention and controls are shown in Table 1, and the results of direct painting, in Table 2.

An aqueous solution, prepared by adding 0.2% of sebacic acid and 0.03% of a nonionic surfactant (a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether) to 0.5% of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole, is adjusted to pH 9.0 by the addition of monoethanolamine as the neutralizing agent to give a treating solution. It is sprayed continuously over a surface-cleaned cold-rolled steel plate. Immediately thereafter, the plate is treated with rubber rolls and dried with a drier.

Thus, according to the present invention, not only the intended antirust effects can be fully displayed in various surrounding conditions but also no work in removing the anticorrosive agent before the next step is necessary, and painting or other required treatments may be conducted directly, so the workability can be improved. Further, a problem of toxicity resulting from the treatment has recently arisen in the case of the conventional treatment involving the use of sodium nitrite, whereas in case of the present invention, such toxicity is extremely low, and in the welding or like operations, there is no environmental pollution caused by fuming, nor any lowering of workability caused by staining of the electrodes. Thus, the present invention has excellent advantages as compared with the conventional surface treatment methods.