Electrogalvanizing? What Is That?
As we may know, galvanizing is one of the widely applied methods used to protect the metal from corrosion. Also, as we may recall, corrosion can gradually destruct the material, usually metal, through chemical/electrochemical reactions with its surrounding environment. Therefore, using galvanizing, which involves applying a thin coating of zinc to the base metal, helps to protect the metal from the surrounding environment. Today, we are going to look at one special form of galvanizing. We are going to answer the question: ‘what is electrogalvanizing?’
When we galvanize, we give metal anti-corrosion properties by creating a protective zinc coating that shields the base metal from its environment that can be moist or have other elements in the air, creating a perfect setting for corrosion.
As we may know from our previous posts, one of the most popular galvanizing methods is hot-dip galvanizing, which essentially means applying zinc coating by passing the metal through a molten batch of zinc at a temperature of around 460◦C. Electrogalvanizing is a different process to hot-dip galvanizing.
During electrogalvanizing a layer of zinc metal is placed on the steel surface. The solution that contains zinc salts is immersed with steel components. Further on, electricity is applied to induce an electrochemical reaction on the surface of the steel. As a result of electrogalvanizing, a thinner coating is created, which also has a much better aesthetic appearance.
Electrogalvanizing is often used to galvanize steel sheets or steel wires. Also, the automotive and appliance industries use electrogalvanizing widely.
However, since electrogalvanizing produces a much thinner protective coating, the steel underneath is more prone to the damage. Therefore, materials that have been galvanized using electrogalvanizing are often further on painted to add an additional layer of protection.
How do we use electrogalvanizing in the steel fencing industry? For example, electrogalvanized wire (cold galvanized wire) is used to make wire mesh and fencing. As we mentioned before, electrogalvanized materials do not have a thick protective layer and, logically, the same applies to electrogalvanized wire. However, even if the zinc coating may not be very thick, it’s enough to have anti-corrosion properties. Zinc coating also gives the wire smooth and bright looks.
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