Corrosion protection of steel using zinc
Hot dip galvanizing - Principle

Corrosion is the destruction of metals under the effect of an aggressive environment, which in fact corresponds to the spontaneous return of a metal, such as iron, to a natural state of greater physical and chemical stability, i.e., the combined state (oxide, hydroxide, etc.).

Zinc is one of the most widely used metals for protecting steel against corrosion through galvanization, but also through electrogalvanizing, metallization, zinc-rich paints, vapor phase deposition, and sherardizing.

This can be explained by two phenomena:

• the characteristics of zinc corrosion products;

• the sacrificial protection provided by zinc to ferrous substrates.