For over a century, Zinc has enhanced the longevity and performance of steel. Zinc coatings provide an effective and economical way of protecting steel against corrosion.

HOW ZINC PROTECTS

Fundamentally, corrosion is an electrochemical process that in the case of steel sheets, causes it to become thinner over time. Rusting occurs by a chemical reaction between steel and oxygen which is present in the air or dissolved into moisture on the surface.

Zinc coatings protect the base steel in two ways. Firstly, by providing a continous metallic barrier that does not allow the moisture to contact the steel. However, the second and more outstanding protection mechanism is Zinc’s remarkable ability to galvanically protect steel. When base steel is exposed (eg: at sheared edges, scratches, etc) and comes into contact with moisture, a galvanic cell is formed. The steel then functions as the cathode and the Zinc as the anode with the moisture acting as the electrolyte.