TEN IMPORTANT REASONS TO USE HOT DIP GALVANIZATION

1 Competitive initial cost

Due to the fact that it is a highly mechanical process, fire galvanization in main aplications has a lower initial cost compared to other anti-corrosive coatings.

2 Lower maintenace cost

The lower initial cost and durability makes hot dip galvanization more versatile and less espensive to protect steel and cast iron for longer periods against atmospheric corrosion. In equipment or structures located in areas of difficult access, mountains or still with security restrictions (e.g. electrification towers), the increasing maintenance intervals decrease the expenditure and work interruptions. In many cases galvanization with hot

zinc may even turn maintenance necessary, but whem indispensable, there is no need for complex pretreaments.

3 Durability

The durability of products with undergo hot dip treatment is directly proportional to the zinc coating desity and protects against aggressions to the atmosphere. It generally last 10 years in industrial environment, 20 years at the seaside, and more than 25 years in rural areas.

4 Reliability

The hot dip galvanization process is simple, direct and totally controlled. The density of the coating is uniform, can be determined in advance and is of simple specification. 5 Swiftness of the process (and utilization) By applying hot dip galvanization, a complete coating of a piece is achieved in a few minutes, whereas another process would take hours or even days. (The modern lines of continuous galvanization can produce, for example, 500 m2/minute of metal sheets with excellent coating quality). Immediately after galvanization, the piece is ready for use without any need for preparing its surface, retouching or painting.

6 Coating resistance

The process of immersion in hot zinc process produces a coating metallurgically linked to the steel by the formation of Fe-Zn and Zn layers. No other coating process presents these characteristic, producing hot dip galvanized products with a great resistance to mechanical failures during manipulation, storage, transpostation and installation. Besides that, the coating's hardness makes it particularly adequate in applications where abrasion could be a problem.

7 Complete and perfect coating

The immersion of the piece in zinc covers internal and external surfaces, edges and narrow cracks, not provided by other treatments. In addition, the hot zinc process Why Galvanize? maintains the density of the coating in edges and borders, which does not occur in other types of coating Processes.

8 Three ways of protection

The galvanization process steel in three ways:

1. The zinc coating suffers a minimal environment corrosion, therefora having a long and predictable lifetime.

2. The coating is corroded thus proportioning a cationic protection to the small areas of the piece exposed to the atmosphere, in most cases due to friction, cuts or accidental damages.

3. If the damaged area is large, the cationic zinc protection inhibits the spreading of the corrosion over the coating.

9 Easiness of inspection

A product which underwent galvanization can be easily inspected. The nature of the process is such that if the coating appears to be continuous and perfect, is really is. Apart from this fact, the density of the coating can be checked at any time through magnetic equipment or non-damaging tests.

10 Diversification of application

The mechanical resistance of steels added to the zinc resistance, makes the galvanized product an inexpensive and versatile means for a great number of applications.