There is a need in machine-building industries nowadays to automate technologies, in particular, laser ones, to remove surface oxide layers – mill scale, rust – from steel products/pieces in order to improve the energy effectiveness of processing. Herewith, a theoretical assessment method for the intensity of heating of the oxide layer and the phase transition in it can be used to optimize laser cleaning (LC) of the steel surface. To realize this, it is possible to use some calculation and modeling procedures that require, as a first step, the data collection and verification on the temperature-dependent properties of iron-containing condensed phases, as possible components contained, in particular, in scale, which is typically widespread into various metal products. In this regard, the formation of database for characteristics of oxide scale components by the way of selection of information on thermophysical (including optical) properties of the components mentioned and of steel base, which are required for a reliable calculation of the thermal efficiency parameters of the technology for laser cleaning of carbon steels, as well as such actively developed related technologies as laser cutting, drilling, coating remelting, etc., was chosen as the task of our research. An analytical overview of published experimental data made it possible to systematize information on a number of transport and other physical properties of iron-containing components at ambient pressure, including thermal conductivity (k) and diffusivity (a), density ρ, irradiation absorptance and integral emissivity in the temperature range from T ≈ 298 K to the melting temperatures of oxide and metal phases and above them. At the same time, a preliminary thermochemical estimation shows (on the calculated data) the existence of such thermodynamically stable forms of the condensed phase in the heating spot of scale layers during its LC at the melting point and above it, as Fe3O4, FeO, and Fe, which is consistent with known experimental data. Comparison of the values of a calculated by us (using the published values of k, ρ and molar heat capacity and using extrapolation in the high-temperature region) for the types of scale components under consideration with a set of experimental values of this parameter in current literature revealed the presence of differences for both oxide and metal phases. These new values make it possible to fill in a gap in the temperature range T = 1600–1800 K that existed in the data on the thermal diffusivity. The value of a = (0.83–0.92)·10–6 m2/s was also calculated for liquid iron oxide for the T ≈ 1800 K, which was not measured experimentally, that, obviously, prevented modeling of not only laser surface processing, melting and cleaning of steels, but also calculations in the field of metallurgical and other technologies, which are characterized by the presence of iron oxide melts during heating.
