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International Zinc Association
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Galvanizing is a process for rustproofing iron and steel by or cold rolled coils were charged at the front end and an-
the application of a zinc coating. Three of the most-used nealed galvanized coils were produced at the finishing end.
processes for applying zinc to iron and steel are hot-dip By 1958 there were at least 56 lines using his design. The
galvanizing, electrogalvanizing, and zinc spraying. Most widespread application of many metallurgical, mechanical
galvanized products are coated using the continuous sheet and electrical engineering breakthroughs after WWII, in both
hot-dip process. It involves immersing a moving steel the continuous hot-dip and electroplating areas, has led to
continuous sheet for 2 to 15 seconds in a bath of molten zinc, the widespread production and large volume use of metal-
which is at a temperature close to 870°F [465°C], to form a lic coatings on sheet steel. Galvanizing of steel sheet has
metallurgically bonded zinc or zinc-iron alloy coating. This evolved into a continuous process done very effectively at
same hot-dip immersion process is also used to produce other high speeds. Today there are over 850 continuous galva-
coatings such as zinc-aluminum alloys. nizing lines in the world – with over 450 of them in China
Steel rusts (oxidizes/corrodes) when left unprotected in alone!
almost any environment. Applying a thin coating of zinc to
steel is an effective and economical way to protect it from
corrosion. Zinc coatings protect by providing both a physi-
cal barrier and cathodic protection to the underlying steel.
Zinc corrosion rates in air are 10 to 100 times slower than
steel, and galvanized surfaces do not have to be painted if
that is the desired look.
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the hot-dip process became more capable of making a bet- sion and passes over the rolls more smoothly, which aids in
ter surface, and very formable products, electrogalvanize producing superior surface quality.
usage for automotive dropped off. The total tonnage of this The “heart” of a galvanizing line is its zinc bath. What
product is now less than 1/3 of what it was in the late1990s happens here in the 2 to 5 seconds that the steel is in contact
(see Figure 2). with the liquid zinc is critical to making a useable product.
For over at least the past decade, automotive is by far The zinc pot and its liquid metal content is really a large
the largest consumer at over 40% of total production. Next “metallic reactor”. Pure zinc at 865˚F alloys extremely fast
are the steel service centers at about 25%, followed by the with a clean iron surface. It was learned decades ago that
construction market at about 22 %. about 0.15% of aluminum dissolved in the zinc slows down
the zinc-iron reaction long enough to prevent the formation
of brittle alloys that would otherwise cause flaking of the
coating when the sheet is formed. This small amount of
aluminum forms a thin, very adherent iron-aluminum-zinc
inhibition layer. It is this layer that makes possible today’s
galvanized sheet market with products that can withstand the
most severe of forming operations without cracking or loss
of the zinc coating.
As the fast moving strip vertically exits the bath, it pulls
liquid zinc up with it by viscous forces. The excess zinc
must be removed. Gas knives are used to do this. They em-
ploy a low-pressure, high-volume method of delivering the
wiping medium, which is almost always air. Pressure is the
principal parameter, but control of other variables drives the
need for extensive equipment to control the wiping opera-
tion.
Air leaving the knife orifices “cut’s “ away the unneeded
liquid zinc, which returns to the zinc bath, leaving only the
thickness required to meet the specification. Galvanizing
lines run at speeds anywhere from 30 to over 500 feet per
Production of Continuously Galvanized Sheet minute, and gas wiping is the coating control method used
on all lines. Gas wiping came from the paper industry to the
There are four main steps performed in sequence on continuous galvanizing process over 60 years ago to replace
modern hot dip coating lines – cleaning the steel strip, the original zinc coating rolls that were very difficult to con-
annealing (softening) the steel, coating it with zinc, then trol and incapable of producing thinner zinc coatings. When
treating or conditioning the surface. These consecutive pro- the coating is left to freeze after gas wiping, it has a bright,
cesses are completed in a matter of 4 to 10 minutes – a feat metallic lustre. As most CGL lines today use lead-free spel-
that used to take 3 to 6 weeks before the advent of continu- ter, the spangle size is small (<0.02”) and almost invisible to
ous galvanizing lines. the naked eye. Lead in a zinc bath produces large, flowery
The incoming steel sheet must first be cleaned of rolling spangles. The very small spangle produced by a lead-free
oils, iron fines and dirt in order to ensure zinc adhesion and bath freezes smoother and is much easier to make into an
good surface quality after coating. This is done either by extra smooth product by temper passing. Lead also has other
chemical cleaning using hot alkali, or gas flame cleaning issues, so most galvanize made today is zero spangle.
just prior to the annealing section. Many galvanize lines are capable of making a product
The furnace has two process requirements; first, to heat known as “galvanneal”. After the strip leaves the coating
the steel to the required temperature to anneal (transform) knives, it’s reheated to restart the zinc iron reaction. This
it to the specified strength and ductility, and second, to converts the zinc to a zinc-iron alloy. It produces a coating
provide conditions that remove, and keep from reforming, with a matte appearance, to which paint adheres very well.
iron oxide layer on the surface of the sheet. This is needed The product is widely used to make auto bodies. Galvan-
to achieve rapid and complete wetting when the sheet enters neal is not painted on coil coating lines as the bulk 10 % iron
the molten zinc bath. The furnace atmosphere consists of in the coating makes it hard and brittle. It would crack and
mostly nitrogen, with from 5 to 35% hydrogen to reduce flake when formed, taking the very well adhered paint with
iron oxide. To produce commercial galvanized sheet only it.
takes, at most, 30 seconds at the annealing soak temperature In the after pot process section, the sheet is temper rolled
(about 1300 ˚F). and/or leveled. Low carbon steel must be cold worked
There are two types of line furnaces in use today. In the slightly after annealing to prevent a problem known as
early years, all galvanizing lines used horizontal furnaces, discontinuous yielding. Temper rolling cold works the steel
as they are the easiest and least expensive to build and are in compression and also provides a smooth surface that’s
still used today for producing commercial products. Verti- important for painting. Leveling cold works the steel by
cal lines were developed to produce high surface quality stretching and does not change the surface except for some
sheet and those that demand more intricate heat treatments, fine leveler breaks. It provides superior flatness through
such as the new automotive Advanced High Strength Steel elongation of the strip. After this the sheet can be treated
grades. In vertical furnaces the sheet is under higher ten- with chemicals or oiled before it is recoiled.
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regions next to the bend prevent contraction longitudinally of coil coated HDG & Galfan® in a given exposure site
and place the web area in compression. Pocket waves oc- could be predicted based on zinc metal loss at the site. For
cur when compression stresses exceed the elastic buckling Zn55%Al, no correlation with zinc loss was found
limit of the web area. In both the Prozek, and Lebozek studies it’s important
The question is then “how might the elastic bucking to note that the various pretreatments listed did not include
issue be overcome?” The answer is to produce a sheet with zinc phosphate. Many producers in North America now use
a smaller, controlled amount of YPE (4-6%). This allows zinc phosphate because of its ability, combined with HDG
the deformation to be localized in the bend region, with coatings, to better resist under film corrosion compared
little stress passing into the web region. The paint curing to complex oxide treatments. It would have been very
process accelerates the return of a small amount of YPE interesting to see how zinc phosphate would have compared
(ageing) to accomplish this without producing in these studies.
a fluting condition. The controlled YPE is pro-
duced in the sheet by altering rolling tempera-
tures so as to leave extra carbon and nitrogen to
be available to produce some aging in the paint
ovens. Steel producers who have adopted this
“prepainted sheet practice” in their rolling mills
usually employ it for all prepainted orders, as
the controlled amount of inherent YPE is not
harmful to other non-roll formed uses.