Iron oxide films formed on three different steel surfaces by thermal oxidation were removed in hydrochloric acid solutions at 20 degrees C. The oxide removal process in flowing solutions was followed in situ by ellipsometry. Two different removal mechanisms were observed in 0.5-2 M HCl, one where undermining of the film resulted in large intact pieces of the oxide leaving the substrate surface at the end of the removal period, and one where the film scaled off the surface in small pieces during the entire removal process. Oxide films which exhibited the undermining mechanism were found to contain about 10% hematite (Fe2O3) and 90% magnetite (Fe3(3)O(4)). The scaling off mechanism was observed for films which were nearly pure magnetite. Optical models were constructed using data from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements for the thicknesses and compositions of films after different immersion times in HCl solutions. Spectra calculated from the models agreed well with the experimental spectra.