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Coatings Galvanized
Coatings Galvanized
Topics Covered
Background
Zinc Electroplating
Mechanical Plating
Sherardizing
Background
There are a number of methods of applying zinc coatings and each will determine the
coating’s thickness and its ultimate durability in a specific environments The most
commonly encountered types of zinc coatings are:
Zinc electroplating
Mechanical plating
Sherardising
A brief description of each application process and the characteristics of the coating
formed are provided in the following sections.
Zinc Electroplating
Coating characteristics: Zinc electroplated coatings are bright coatings that are thin -
typically around 5-10 microns and are not suitable for exterior use where durability is
required. Heavy chromate coatings are frequently applied to zinc platings to improve
their durability, especially for fastener applications. The coating is all pure zinc and
lacks the hard alloy layers of the hot dipped coatings.
Mechanical Plating
Mechanical plating involves tumbling the items to be coated in zinc powder with glass
beads and special reducing agents to bond the zinc particles to the steel surface.
Coating characteristics: The mechanical plating process is used to apply zinc or alloy
coatings to fasteners and small parts. The zinc particles are in lamellar form and
durability equivalent to hot dip coatings can be achieved in a uniform coating that is
particularly suited to threaded fasteners and hardened TEK type screws that are
unsuitable for hot dip galvanizing. These coatings are typically 15 - 20 microns thick.
Sherardizing
Continuous strip galvanizing involves passing coil steel through a bath of molten zinc
in a controlled reducing atmosphere at high speed (180 m/min).
Galvanized pipe and tube is produced by two methods; one is semi-continuous where
stock lengths of tube are cleaned and passed continuously through a bath of molten
zinc at 450 degrees centigrade.
The other method is continuous where strip is formed into tube from coil and the tube
then passed through a bath of molten zinc at 450 degrees centigrade. This second
method coats the exterior of the tube only.
General or hot dip galvanizing involves preparing work by acid pickling in batches or
on jigs and then dipping the work into a bath of molten zinc.
Zinc met metal spraying requires the steel surface to be cleaned to a Class 3 level and
then zinc wire or zinc powder is sprayed onto the surface with an oxy-acetylene or
plasma flame gun.
Coating characteristics: Zinc metal spraying produces a relatively porous coating that
is able to be applied in any desired thickness but is typically 75-200 microns.
It is used where the size or shape of the article make it unsuitable for hot dip
galvanizing. The availability of larger galvanizing baths has resulted in it being little
used for other than repairs to galvanized coatings.