Influence of process conditions on the morphology of zinc coatings

Hot-dip galvanizing is one of the most widely used corrosion protection techniques, thanks to the dual action (cathodic protection and barrier effect towards aggressive environments) and to the cost-effectiveness. From a technological point of view, the principles of galvanizing have remained unchanged since this coating was used, a couple of century ago. However, due to new applications in the automotive and construction industries, as well as the elimination of some alloy elements dangerous for human health, alternative process solutions have been studied. New applicative investigations on the bath composition were aimed at obtaining a better mechanical behaviour of the coating. In this work, the effects of different alloying elements in the molten zinc bath were studied, paying attention to the formation kinetics of the intermetallic phases at different immersion times.