Hot-Dip Galvanizing Process

Galvanizing is a well-established, economical, and durable method for protecting metals from corrosion. It is basically a surface treatment process to coat metal surfaces by submerging the metals into a molten Zn metal bath. Zn coating has been widely used as strong protection for metals against corrosive environments for a long time. The galvanizing process has three major steps: surface preparation, galvanizing process, and postsurface treatment. Coating is established with the metallurgical interaction between molten metal and iron. Two types of galvanizing processing methods have been known for a long time. These are hot-dip galvanizing and electrogalvanizing methods. In this chapter, details regarding the hot-dip galvanizing process and its critical processing parameters are addressed because of its broad application and low cost by changing the galvanizing processing procedures, such as immersion time and galvanizing temperature affecting the coating properties. Moreover, small amounts of elements present in the galvanizing bath also contribute to final characteristics of the coatings. In addition to the fundamental galvanizing issues, galvanizing in advanced high-strength steels and failure mechanisms of coatings are also discussed.