Effect of the silicon content in structural steels on the structure and growth rate of the zinc coating

The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of the silicon content in structural steels on the zinc coating microstructure and the coating growth rate at the constant temperature of the process and constant chemical composition of the melt. It is found that increasing the silicon content in the steel accelerates the interdiffusion process and leads to increasing of general coating thickness due to growth of ζ-phase. It is shown that to obtain the required coating thickness of 80-100 microns, low-silicon steel products (Si = 0.005%) shall be kept in the zinc melt 4-8 minutes, and steel parts with silicon content 0.22% and 0.51% shall be kept 2 minutes.