The most common hot dipping process for industrial applications is galvanizing, which

refers to the coating of zinc over iron or steels for rust proofing. It is an extremely
versatile and easy means of providing corrosion protection for construction materials
exposed to atmospheric conditions. This protection is imparted in two ways:

 As a continuous barrier by protecting the underlying substrate from contact with

the corrosive electrolyte
 As a galvanic protector by sacrificing itself slowly in a corrosive aqueous
environment

Hot dip galvanizing is essentially a two-step process. First, the steel must be properly
prepared to accept the zinc coating. This is normally accomplished by pickling the
component in an alkaline solution to remove any rust or grease. A clean base metal is
essential in achieving a good galvanized coating. The second step involves immersing
the component in a bath of molten zinc, long enough for the zinc to form a series of
alloy layers with the base steel of sufficient thickness to meet certain required weight
specifications. The thickness is primarily a function of the duration of immersion, the
speed of withdrawal from the bath, and the bath temperature (zinc melts at 420°C, but a
typical bath temperature is around 450°C). It should be noted that under certain
conditions, the ductility of steels can be affected by the galvanizing process. While this
phenomenon has been termed 'galvanizing embrittlement', in reality the loss of ductility
is not related to the presence of the zinc. In fact, it has been attributed to a form of strain
age embrittlement, which relates to a change in properties of cold worked steels over
time at elevated temperature. The effect of heating the steel during the galvanizing
process can serve to accelerate the changes in the properties of cold worked steel.
Research has shown that the amount of cold working has a strong influence on the
development of strain age embrittlement.

The chemical composition (primarily carbon) of irons and steels determines the
suitability of these metals for galvanizing. Although steels containing up to 0.4% carbon
have been successfully galvanized on a production basis, low carbon steels having a
maximum carbon content of 0.15% are generally considered the most suitable. To avoid
brittleness of the iron-zinc alloy layer, cast iron should be low in phosphorus and silicon;
a preferred composition may contain about 0.1% P. and about 1.2% Si.

A galvanized coating can also be applied without the use of a bath - which is called 'dry'
or mechanical galvanizing. While not nearly as common as hot dip galvanizing,
mechanical galvanizing is a room temperature process in which the metal components
to be coated are placed in a large tumbler together with zinc powder, glass beads and
an aqueous phase. The glass beads act to mechanically alloy the surface of the
component by 'hammering' the zinc into the surface of the part. This impact galvanizing
process is credited with producing adherent coatings that provide uniform protection in
recesses as well as on the crests of threaded parts. The most common application of
mechanically galvanized parts is for fasteners.