Zinc Coatings: Steel's Corrosion Inhibitor

摘要

Zinc coatings have been used to protect steel for more than 250 years. Zinc's first use in construction (roofing) was in 1811 in Belgium. However, it wasn't until 1829 that the galvanic action of zinc protecting iron was discovered. In an experiment by Michael Faraday, he found that zinc protects iron by sacrificially corroding when the two are in contact in the presence of an electrolyte. This phenomenon would later be known as cathodic protection and would be the driving force in the development of multiple coating technologies that benefit from the dual protection zinc metal provides-barrier and cathodic protection.