Intermetallic phases formation in hot dip galvanizing process

摘要

The study describes the mechanism of structure formation in protective coating, growing on iron surface during hot-dip galvanizing. As a first stage of the galvanizing process, immediately after the iron sample has been dipped in galvanizing bath, a layer of frozen zinc is crystallizing on the sample surface. Next, as a result of isothermal solidification, an alloyed layer of the coating; composed of the sub-layers of intermetallic Fe-Zn phases, is formed. At the initial stage of the existence of the alloyed layer, another layer, that of undercooled liquid, is formed on the surface of iron dipped in liquid zinc. As a result of peritectic reactions under metastable conditions, the individual phases are born, forming sub-layers in the expected sequence of Γ_1, δ and ζ.