Effects of Mg additions on surface morphology and corrosion resistance of hot-dipped Zn coatings

Steel is still the main construction material for automobiles, general equipment and industrial machinery. Hot dipping has been proven to be an excellent method of corrosion protection of steels for a wide range of applications worldwide. Coatings of Zn-Al alloys on steel sheet have high corrosion resistance due to the corrosion prevention ability from Zn and the passivation of Al Bath composition, immersion velocity/time and substrate composition are the hot dipping parameters that more influence on the thickness and corrosion resistance of the deposited coating. In order to study their influence small amounts of magnesium were added. Experiments were performed in a hot dipping simulator using different substrates, bath compositions and hot dipping parameters. Surface layers were characterised by: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX or EDS). Cyclic corrosion tests were performed in order to observe the corrosion resistance for different Zn-Al-Mg coatings. Results show that the microstructure and composition of the substrate strongly affect the desired coating properties. Nevertheless, the influence of the magnesium on coating thickness is relevant, increasing when added in small quantities in a molten bath of Zn-5wt %Al. The quality and microstructure of the coating is affected by the amount of Mg in the bath. Cyclic corrosion tests results show that the quality of the coating is affected by the amount of Mg in the bath