Q₂: Benefits of Galvanizing                                                                                                                            

A₂:The galvanizing process produces a durable, abrasion-resistant coating of metallic zinc and zinc-iron alloy layers bonded metallurgically to the steel base and completely covering the work piece. No other coating for steel matches galvanizing’s unique combination of properties and advantages:

1. For most classes of steelwork, galvanizing provides the lowest longterm cost. In many cases galvanizing also provides lowest initial cost.

2. The galvanized coating becomes part of the steel surface it protects.

3. The unique metallurgical structure of the galvanized coating provides outstanding toughness and resistance to mechanical damage in transport, erection and service.

4. The galvanized coating is subject to corrosion at a predictably slow rate, between one-seventeenth and one eightieth that of steel, depending on the environment to which it is exposed.

5. Galvanizing’s cathodic protection for steel ensures that small areas of the base steel exposed through severe impacts or abrasion, are protected from corrosion by the surrounding galvanized coating.

6. An inherent advantage of the process is that a standard minimum coating thickness is applied.

7. During galvanizing the work is completely immersed in molten zinc and the entire surface is coated, even recesses and returns which often cannot be coated using other processes. If required, internal surfaces of vessels and containers can be coated simultaneously.

8. Galvanized coatings are virtually ‘self-inspecting’ because the reaction between steel and molten zinc in the galvanizing bath does not occur unless the steel surface is chemically clean. Therefore a galvanized coating which appears sound and continuous is sound and continuous.

9. Galvanizing is a highly versatile process. Items ranging from small fasteners and threaded components, up to massive structural members can be coated.

10. The mechanical properties of commonly galvanized steels are not significantly affected by galvanizing.

11. Galvanizing provides outstanding corrosion performance in a wide range of environments.

12. ‘Duplex’ coatings of galvanizing-plus-paint are often the most economic solution to the problem of protecting steel in highly corrosive environments. Such systems provide a synergistic effect in which the life of the combined coatings exceeds the total life of the two coatings if they were used alone.