CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Vol.9, No.5(2010), pp.

175~186

Use of High Zinc Bath Entry Strip Temperature to Solve

Coating Problems
†
Pertti Sippola and David Smith

GSI Technology, Inc., 2202 Niles-Cortland Rd. NE, Suite A, Cortland, Ohio 44410, USA
(Received July 30, 2009; Revised October 25, 2010; Accepted October 27, 2010)

The auto industry is demanding more ductile high-strength steel grades to build lighter and stronger car
bodies. The hot-dip galvanizing problems of these new steel grades are creating a demand for an improved
method to control zinc wettability. The simplest way to improve zinc wettability on industrial hot-dip galvanizing
lines is to increase the strip immersion temperature at zinc bath entry for enhancing the aluminothermic
reaction. However, this practice increases the reactivity due to overheating the zinc in the snout which
induces the formation of brittle Fe-Zn compounds at the strip/coating interface with the formation of higher
amounts of dross in the zinc bath and snout contamination. Thus, this simple practice can only be utilized
for short production periods of one to two hours without deteriorating coating quality. This problem has
been solved by employing a technique that allows the use of a higher and attuned strip immersion temperature
at zinc bath entry while still maintaining a constantly low zinc bath temperature. This has been proven
to provide the solution for both the improved wettability and a significant reduction in the amounts of
dross in the zinc bath.
Keywords : carbide-free bainite, dross management, hot-dip galvanizing, new advanced high-strength steels

1. Introduction a dross problem.

Typically, the coating quality is adversely affected by
The operators of galvanizing lines prefer to have only dross pickup defects. Vortexes created by the moving steel
three pot rolls and no other equipment in the zinc bath strip and sink rolls facilitate the system for growth of larg-
to minimize the maintenance costs. However this system er dross particles which generally cause dross pickup de-
has many disadvantages including limited options to con- fects on the strip. Conventional galvanizing offers no sol-
trol the reaction of the IM-layer on the steel strip at 0.2 ution to eliminate and/or minimize the formation of these
second of immersion based only on the control of the bath vortexes. As a result of the large amounts of dross that
aluminum. There is only a small window during the entire is being created using conventional galvanizing, there is
galvanizing process to control the IM-layer via the bath a very short production time in which critical surface qual-
aluminum content within very tight limits to maintain the ity can be achieved to produce premium-coated steel
amount of total coating aluminum as low as possible and grades. At the same time maintenance costs are increased
still achieve the best surface quality. This window occurs due to frequent line stops to change the sink rolls because
during the first 0.2 second of immersion of the strip into of dross build-up on the rolls, even when using recently
the zinc pot or approximately one meter length of strip. developed, sophisticated mechanical scrapers.
The ability to control the IM-layer is lost when the strip The auto industry is demanding more and more ductile
comes into contact with the sink roll and is pressed against high-strength steel grades to build lighter and stronger car
the roll surface by the high tension of the strip making bodies. The hot-dip galvanizing problems of these new
it difficult to get a good final coating on the steel strip steel grades are creating a demand for an improved method
thereafter. The improper formation of the IM-layer will to control zinc wettability. The simplest way to improve
be a source of transfer of iron into the zinc bath causing zinc wettability on conventional galvanizing lines is to in-
crease the strip immersion temperature at zinc bath entry
for enhancing the aluminothermic reaction. However, this
†
Corresponding author: [email protected] practice increases the reactivity due to overheating the zinc

175
 PERTTI SIPPOLA AND DAVID SMITH

in the snout which induces the formation of brittle Fe-Zn

compounds at the strip/coating interface and with the for-
mation of dross in the zinc bath and snout contamination.
Thus, this simple practice only can be utilized for short
production periods of one to two hours without deteriorat-
ing coating quality.
This problem has been solved by employing a new tech-
nique that allows the use of a higher and attuned strip
immersion temperature at zinc bath entry while still main-
taining a constantly low zinc bath temperature. This has
been proven to provide the solution for both improved
zinc wettability and a significant reduction in the amount
of dross in the zinc bath. It is well-known that the best
way to reduce dross in the zinc bath is to increase the
formation kinetics of Fe2Al2, which is only possible by Fig. 1. The dissolution of iron from the strip is directly related
to temperature of the liquid zinc around the strip at 0.1 second
lowering the bath temperature if it is not possible to in- of immersion. To minimize the dissolution of iron from the strip
crease the aluminum in the zinc bath. the temperature of the liquid zinc at 0.1 second should be kept
The new technique will also solve the above mentioned as low as possible.
disadvantages of conventional galvanizing including effec-
tive management of dross and providing significantly lon-
ger time, over two-times than current galvanizing, to pro-
duce premium coated steel grades. All of these will result
in a significant reduction in maintenance and operation
costs, even though it will require additional equipment in
the zinc bath.

2. Dross formation related to the dissolved iron

from steel strip
The general target for galvanizers is to use equal strip
entry and zinc bath temperature. The amount of iron dis-
solved from the steel strip into the bath is generally as- Fig. 2. The dissolution of iron from the strip is directly related
sumed to be directly related to the zinc bath temperature,1) to temperature of the liquid zinc around the strip at 0.1 sec
not primarily to the temperature of liquid zinc in the snout of immersion. To minimize the dissolution of iron from the strip
at the strip entry area at 0.1 sec of immersion. With con- the temperature of the liquid zinc at 0.1 second should be kept
as low as possible.
ventional galvanizing the temperature of the liquid zinc
at strip entry is 465 °C which is approximately 5 °C higher
than the temperature measured by a thermocouple in one strip could be used in the zinc bath for melting zinc ingots.
corner of the zinc pot shown in Fig. 1. This is only possible using the new galvanizing technology
Conventional galvanizing technology will need to use called ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing® due to less dross in the
electricity for melting the zinc ingots by full firing the zinc pot.
inductors for the zinc pot. As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig.
4, the strip entry temperature over 465 °C will cause a 3. Growth of dross particles by vortexes
high formation of dross and thus poor coating quality. Also
the gas-jet cooling of the steel strip from 520 °C to 465 It is well-known that the moving strip driving the sink
°C requires a lot of electricity. Totally these both may roll and stabilizer rolls as well as the inductors, if at max-
consume electricity even up to a range of one million US imum power, will create vortexes in the zinc bath2),3),4),5)
dollars annually. Therefore, it would be highly desirable which will collect and prevent the tiny dross particles from
if these two separate electricity consumptions could be being removed quickly from the zinc bath causing growth
combined to cooperate with each other so that no elec- of particles by coalescence, shown in Fig. 3. It is quite
tricity is wasted. For example, the heat released from the impossible to eliminate these vortexes in practice using

176 CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010

 USE OF HIGH ZINC BATH ENTRY STRIP TEMPERATURE TO SOLVE COATING PROBLEMS

Fig. 3. Vortexes in the zinc bath will enhance tiny dross particles
to grow by coalescence over 20 microns and cause dross pickup
defects.

Fig. 4. The high strip entry temperature will overheat the liquid
conventional technology,6),7) and thus the problem of iron zinc around the strip at 0.1 sec immersion enhancing the
continuously dissolved from the strip creating an excessive dissolution of iron from strip and formation of dross especially
dross issue has not been solved. Conventional hot-dip gal- in the snout. This will limit the use of high strip entry temperature
vanizing zinc bath-Section through center Conventional only to be used temporarily.
bath is not "motion-free" close tostrip! "Vortex-Motion"
"Tunnel" highFe "Dead Zone" (Vortex/Turbulence) Dross ∙No removal of the reaction products by zinc flow
9)
particles to grow dross pickup defects from strip surface will stop the reaction.
∙Significant local consumption of aluminum when gal-
4. High strip entry temperature-aluminothermic vanizing high Mn-alloyed steels which would result
reaction in located depletion of dissolved bath Al at the
bath/substrate interface, promoting inhibition break-
It is also well-known8) that the use of a higher strip down.10)
entry temperature will solve many galvanizing problems
due to limited coatability or wetting issues because steel 3MnO(s) + 2Al(bath) ↔ 3Mn(bath) + Al2O3(s)
grades like HSLA-grades and new AHSS-grades have dif-
ficult steel chemistries with high amounts of Mn-alloy and Only thin MnO-layer will be reduced by aluminothermic
sometimes high Si-% (>0.20%) and boron. However, this reaction using the conventional process from the strip sur-
is only applicable for limited operating periods of one to face for metallic Fe to react to bath-Al.11)
two hours, i.e. producing two to four coils. Thereafter the
coating quality will deteriorate, and the formation of dross Fe(strip) + 3Al(bath) → FeAl3(strip)
in the zinc bath will be increased beyond the respectable
limit of a conventional galvanizing practice. The reason
is illustrated in Fig. 4 which shows that the high strip-T 5. New technology-continuously dross-free zinc
will increase the liquid zinc temperature at 0.1 sec and bath
reaction temperature at 0.2 sec will become too high.
A higher strip entry temperature will enhance the activa- It should be a great benefit of the galvanizing operation
tion energy for aluminothermic reactions using aluminum to have a simple and consistent technology to use any
in the zinc bath as the reducing agent for Mn-, Si-, Cr-, strip entry temperature continuously for difficult steel che-
etc., oxides on the strip surface. Aluminothermic reactions mistries and still keep the zinc bath temperature at 0.1
are exothermic and thus a high activation energy is needed sec consistently low and the general bath temperature var-
to start them. iation less than ± 0.5 °C regardless of the strip entry tem-
®
Limitations of the conventional method for successful peratures. ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing will provide this
aluminothermic reactions are: solution. The flow pattern of ZQ-DG shown in Fig. 5 pro-
∙Overheating the liquid zinc in the snout; limited oper- vides a unique purification of the whole zinc melt four
ation time and poor coating quality. to six times per hour. There are no vortexes as in conven-

CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010 177

 PERTTI SIPPOLA AND DAVID SMITH

Fig. 5. ZQ-DG will transport continuously 1,000 ton/hr zinc from Operating Zone through Purification Zone where the major
portion of the dissolved metastable iron from strip will be floated into Top Dross for removal.
Purification is based on the driving forces of the low bath temperature and higher aluminum content to precipitate metastable
iron from the zinc melt when the zinc is pumped against the back wall of the zinc pot.

(a) (b)
Fig. 6. (a) The solubility of iron in the zinc melt with 0.14% aluminum is shown as the function of the zinc bath temperature.
The low iron content of a ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing® zinc bath will indicate a virtually dross-free zinc melt. (b) To produce
high quality zinc-coated surface products, the zinc bath iron content should be below supersaturation. ZQ-DG can provide a
continuous low iron content in the zinc bath which is opposite of conventional technology.

tional galvanizing which provides a long dwelling time pounds, not only the necessary Fe2Al5, is greatly increased;
of tiny Fe-Zn-crystals, one micron,12) to grow into large and (b) the kinetics is much higher. This again reduces
dross particles in the zinc bath. Thus the zinc bath can Fe dissolution from the strip. The bath is indeed cleaner
be kept virtually dross-free as indicated by a very low in ZQ-DG.13)
Fe-content in the bath shown in Fig. 6(a). Dross-free/clean
zinc is only Fe-Zn-Al-crystals with two to five microns 6. Enhancement of the aluminothermic reaction
or less than 10 microns. Dross particles over 20 microns by new technology
should be continuously purified and floated to the top sur-
face of the zinc melt for removal. ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing® allows the use of a con-
ZQ-DG Technology can significantly reduce the amount tinuously high strip entry temperature without overheating
of Fe dissolved from the strip because (a) the zinc melt the liquid zinc in the snout. The strip temperature can be
pumped against the immersing strip is much colder than attuned to be optimum with respect to the coating quality,
460 °C, the conventional bath temperature; and as a result, mechanical properties of the steel and minimum formation
the driving force for the formation of inhibition com- of dross in the zinc bath.

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 USE OF HIGH ZINC BATH ENTRY STRIP TEMPERATURE TO SOLVE COATING PROBLEMS

in 2004 having direct suction of zinc melt through the

cooling tube bundle into the inpot unit. The latest develop-
ment of ZQ-DG Technology is implementing reverse Al-
fresh zinc flow through the cooling tube bundle which
will eliminate any precipitation of metastable iron in the
zinc melt during cooling. The formed dross particles will
be pumped into the Operating Zone from Purification, if
some dross precipitations will occur around the cooling
tubes. These two flow patterns are shown in Fig. 8.

8. Accumulation of dross in snout - conven-

tional
Fig. 7. It is important to note that the reaction temperature at
0.2 sec is constant due to the amount of cooler purified zinc The snout in conventional galvanizing will be con-
pumped consistently against the strip in order to continuously
flush the snout.
taminated by dross emerging from the dead zone above
the sink roll "V". This emerging zinc from the front will
also flow behind the strip in the snout. This has been mod-
7. Industrial operating results of new techno- eled by Nisshin Steel15) and shown in Fig. 9.
logy
9. Recent snout technology to avoid dross -
The benefits of ZQ-DG for traditional grades are re- conventional
ported by Ispat Inland, Inc. from their #5 CGL:
a) 11.5 days to 21 days with one sink roll, welded Currently many galvanizers who are producing exposed
Stellite built bearings and sleeves. surface quality are using a snout with dams and metal
b) 12,000 more production capacity. pumps that continuously remove zinc from the snout16) in
c) Less rejections. an attempt to remove the large amounts of dross infesting
d) Longer campaigns for high Mn-alloyed HSLA-grades, the snout. One of the biggest problems with this solution
etc. is the huge vaporization of zinc creating a zinc dust prob-
These benefits14) are from the ZQ-DG generation used lem in the chute as illustrated in Fig. 10. There is also

(a) (b)
Fig. 8. Comparison of the flow patterns in the Purification Zone; (a) is the original concept used in 2004; and, (b) is the
new concept with the upward flow in Purification Zone to float tiny dross particles into Top Dross removal. Note: Suction
is turbulence-free. Blowing creates turbulence against the pot wall as required for coalescence.

CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010 179

 PERTTI SIPPOLA AND DAVID SMITH

Fig. 11. ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing® will constantly pump

dross-free/low Fe-content zinc melt into the snout, and zinc is
continuously discharged from both ends of the snout.
Fig. 9. Conventional-Dross will float into the snout from the ZQ-DG keeps the zinc melt in the snout at low Fe-content level
V-zone above the sink roll due to the flow pattern created by (<0.026%) even with 0.14% bath-Al. Thus, the formation of
the moving strip. Inside the snout at the surface of zinc melt metastable BCC Fe(Al)-phases will be avoided at 0.2 sec of
the floating dross will slowly accumulate, and the strip will pickup immersion, opposite conventional galvanizing, which easily has
dross particles creating coating defects. more than 0.05% Fe-content in the zinc melt at the 0.2 sec reaction
location. The high Fe-content is the driving force for the formation
of BCC Fe(Al)-phases13) and there is always a time delay to
form optimum IM-layer beyond the sink roll.

tent, Al-fresh zinc melt against the strip and into the snout,
and the zinc is continuously discharged from both ends
of the snout as shown in Fig. 11. This will eliminate the
dross contamination in the snout which is a problem with
conventional galvanizing technology. The high volume of
dross-free/low Fe-content zinc that is pumped by ZQ-DG
will provide unique benefits that are impossible to achieve
using conventional galvanizing technology to avoid the
formation of metastable BCC Fe(Al)-phases with 0.14%
bath-Al. To consistently produce high-quality hot-dip zinc-
coated products, a dross-free/clean snout is the most im-
portant requirement.
Fig. 10. Snouts with dams and metal pumps will undesirably
pull the seal of the oxide-layer/skin from the zinc surface inside 11. Model-how iron is transferred from strip
the snout. Thus, the amount of zinc vaporizing is difficult to
minimize even when using wet nitrogen inside the snout. into zinc bath
H. Yamaguchi and Y. Hisamatsu in 1978 presented the
17)
a maintenance problem because the snout pumps have a mechanism for how iron is transferred from the steel
short lifetime from three to eight weeks due to hard erosive strip into the zinc bath mainly above and after the sink
dross particles in the zinc melt that is pulled from the roll. It is extremely important that the IM-reaction at 0.2
snout. to 0.5 sec of immersion will form a compact, thin, uniform
layer with 100% coverage without loose Fe-Zn-Al crystals
10. Reverse flow of dross-free zinc into snout on top at this IM-layer, which could easily be pulled out
by new technology from the IM-layer mainly from the sink roll. The loose
particles on the IM-layer will enhance dross formation in
ZQ-DG will continuously pump dross-free/low Fe-con- the zinc bath and dross buildup on the sink roll as shown

180 CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010

 USE OF HIGH ZINC BATH ENTRY STRIP TEMPERATURE TO SOLVE COATING PROBLEMS

in Fig. 12(a). The upper/diffusion layer is loosely attached create very strong tornadoes circulating dross up from the
to the lower/reaction layer.18) Therefore, the crystals of this bottom of the zinc pot as shown in Fig. 12(b).
layer can be easily pulled off into the zinc melt above
the sink roll. Due to the strong vortexes these tiny crystals 12. Prevention of dross circulation around the
will grow by coalescence to big dross particles in the dead sink roll
zones, and the strip will pick them up onto the coating
creating dross defects. Also, the ends of the sink roll will The production time per sink roll will be significantly

Fig. 12. (a) Strip will pull dross particles onto the surface before the sink roll enhancing the formation of loose upper layer
which will enhance iron dissolution from the strip into zinc. (b) Ends of the sink roll will lift the dross and prevent dross
particles from settling on the bottom of the zinc pot.

Fig. 13. ZQ-Dynamic Galvanizing® will prevent the circulation of dross around the sink roll. It is possible to keep the roll
surface clean from dross build-up over three weeks without a mechanical scraper even with low bath aluminum content used
for GA-coating.

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 PERTTI SIPPOLA AND DAVID SMITH

increased continuously providing clean sink rolls by the transition from GA to GI, the bottom dross is converted
ZQ-DG as shown in Fig. 13. The recent study19) has shown by the increased bath-Al to floating dross23) causing sig-
that the material choice for the sink roll will not solve nificant dross pickup defects on the strip:
the problem of dross buildup on the sink roll which is
solely dependent on Hydrodynamics around the sink roll. 2FeZn7 (bottom dross) + 5 Al →
ZQ-DG will provide the optimum hydrodynamic con- 14 Zn +Fe2Al5 (floating dross)23)
ditions as shown in Fig. 13 by continuously flushing
dross-free zinc around the sink roll, and no vortexes/dead Also during the transition from GI to GA, it is not possi-
zones with dross accumulation above the sink roll are ble to produce IF-steels by conventional galvanizing due
to reduced bath aluminum below 0.17% when the adher-
possible. The unique direction of the upper flow nozzles
will minimize the pickup of top dross onto the steel strip ence of coating for IF-steels is desirable/good. ZQ-DG has
without baffles as suggested by S.J. Lee, et. al.20) continuously produced a good GI-coating quality for
IF-steels even with bath-Al = 0.145% with no outbursts.
13. Gi and ga in one zinc pot-conventional vs.
new technology 14. Optimization of im-layer to obtain compact
ga-coating
21)
Virtually one bath aluminum content of the new tech-
nique for GA and GI improves the productivity of the The combination of the high strip entry temperature and
line to produce GA and GI with the highest flexibility
without troublesome bath Al transitions and bath cleaning
from dross after GA campaigns which is required by con-
ventional galvanizing.22) Fig. 14 illustrates the bath-Al
practices for conventional and ZQ-DG. During this bath
cleaning the produced product quality is downgraded
and/or produced steel coils sold without profits or even
losses if only one pot is used for both GI and GA. During

Fig. 15. Al enrichment as the function of strip entry temperature.

Fig. 14. Using virtually one bath aluminum content for GA and
GI improves the productivity of the line to produce premium Fig. 16. Optimum strip entry temp. based on the results shown
grades with the highest flexibility without troublesome bath Al in Fig. 1 - to achieve full coverage of IM-layer during the dipping
transitions and cleaning of dross after GA campaigns which is of strip into zinc bath in order to produce good GA-coating
required by conventional galvanizing. for stamping.

182 CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010

 USE OF HIGH ZINC BATH ENTRY STRIP TEMPERATURE TO SOLVE COATING PROBLEMS

Fig. 17. FE-SEM images of the inhibition layers formed at different snout/strip temperatures. The zinc bath temperature is
kept constant at 455 °C. Snout/Strip temperature: 480 °C-discontinuous IM-layer with holes/spots of zeta-phase; 515 °C-optimum,
fine-grained, compact thin IM layer; 530 °C-some outburst; 560 °C-a lot of outburst.

low bath temperature with low bath-Al for GA has been 16. Formation of cementite carbides not de-
proven to provide the optimum combination24) to control sirable for ahss-grades
the formation of IM-layer as shown in Fig. 15 based on
the results shown in Fig. 16. ZQ-DG provides these equal The formation of cementite carbides is kinetically high-
conditions consistently in the industrial scale line of 100 est at the temperature range of 450-500 °C shown in Fig.
26)
tons/hr. The full coverage of IM-layer before wiping zinc 19. This temperature range is unfortunately where the
off by the gas knives is important to achieve a GA-coating equalization of the steel strip will be carried out after the
with minimum powdering and Zeta-phase content for good rapid gas-jet cooling before the zinc bath using the conven-
stamping performance. tional hot-dip galvanizing method. The cementite carbides
together with bainitic ferrite will form the structure of the
15. Thermal cycles to produce new ahss-grades upper bainite. Pearlite is similar to upper bainite, and both
are not desirable for dual phase steels. Cementite carbides,
With the new AHSS-grades, the cooling path after the i.e., upper bainite, is formed at holding temperatures below
intercritical annealing will play an important role regarding 500 °C. Cementite carbides are a waste of carbon because
how much the steel chemistry needs to be alloyed to pro- all available carbon in the steel should be used for the
duce the desired mechanical properties. Conventional gal- formation of martensite.
vanizing will need to be over 0.15% alloying of Mo.25) The short holding above 520 °C is the best temperature
range for hot-dip galvanizing due to the necessary stop
of rapid cooling because of the zinc bath after the rapid
gas-jet cooling at the hot bridle and chute/snout region.

Fig. 19. Holding below 500 °C should be avoided to prevent

Fig. 18. Comparison of different thermal cycles to produce DP-600 the formation of cementite carbides, i.e. upper bainite, because
grades. CAL will produce uncoated steel strip. [Mn-eq = Mn-% all the available carbon in the steel should be used for the formation
+ Cr-% + 0.3Si-%] of martensite.

CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010 183

 PERTTI SIPPOLA AND DAVID SMITH

Fig. 20. Conventional-long holding at 460 °C before zinc bath will require the use of high-alloyed steel chemistries with Mo-alloying
to produce DP600-GI and to avoid the formation of Upper Bainite. Coatability problems will restrict the use of low-cost alloying
elements such as Si and B.

17. DP600-GI by conventional DP-steel.28) The optimum amount of Si is 0.4% for

GI-coated DP-grades. However, if Si is more than 0.2%
To economically produce dual phase steel structure of then conventional galvanizing29) has coatability problems
ferrite and martensite for good spot welding properties the without DFF-preheating furnace and even sometimes with
steel chemistry should have carbon content of less than this furnace. Another desirable alloying element is boron
0.10%, preferably only 0.08%, and manganese less than which 30 to 40 ppm is needed to produce a high harden-
1.7% without Mo-alloying. This is really challenging or ability for steel above 540 °C which actually will eliminate
impossible with conventional galvanizing technology as the formation of pearlite even with lean-alloyed Mn-Si
shown in Fig. 20. The main reason is because with the chemistries. Also coatability problems are significant due
thermal cycle of conventional galvanizing the holding or to B-alloyed steels by conventional galvanizing. The high
equalization is at 460 °C/470 °C after the rapid gas-jet strip entry temperature of ZQ-DG will solve these coat-
cooling before the zinc bath. The formation of cementite ability difficulties of Si- and B-alloyed steel chemistries
carbides, i.e. Upper Bainite by Ohmori27) below 500 °C making it possible to economically produce DP600-GI
is difficult to avoid if the dwelling/holding time of the grades as shown in Fig. 21. The kinetics of bainite for-
strip at 460 °C is more than five seconds. Therefore, the mation is significantly reduced above 500 °C compared
bainite start-nose must be moved to the right by using to 460 °C.30)
expensive Mo-alloying. The high alloying costs will make
the profitability of producing the new AHSS-grades very 19. Summary
marginal or even create losses instead of producing tradi-
tional steel grades. Benefits of the new galvanizing technique over the con-
ventional/current galvanizing technique:
18. DP600-GI by new technology 1) Effective management of dross to minimize dross
pick-up defects on coating based on the following two
Silicon has been known to improve the ductility of issues:

184 CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010

 USE OF HIGH ZINC BATH ENTRY STRIP TEMPERATURE TO SOLVE COATING PROBLEMS

Fig. 21. ZQ-DG makes it possible to use Si- and B-alloyed steel chemistries to economically produce DP600-GI steel grades.

ⓐ To minimize the amount of iron dissolution from ods and cleaning of dross from the zinc bath as is required
steel strip into zinc bath; and, in conventional galvanizing.
ⓑ To continuously purify zinc melt using a low bath 6) DP/AHSS-grades can be produced much more eco-
temperature in the back bath zone with a unique upward nomically from lean Mn-Si-alloyed steel chemistries than
zinc flow to float tiny Fe-Zn-Al-crystals continuously to by conventional galvanizing which needs to use high-cost
the zinc bath surface for removal as top skimmings. This Mo-alloying in steel chemistries.
is impossible using only aluminum to float dross. 7) Important enhanced capability to produce ultra high-
2) Significantly longer production time for premium strength steel grades which will be demanded more and
coated steel grades with a consistently dross-free zinc bath more from the auto industry in the future.
indicated by low iron content in the zinc melt and also
above the sink roll. Reference
3) Improved control of zinc wetting by use of a high
zinc bath entry strip temperature to enhance the alumi- 1. N.-Y. Tang, Y.H. Liu, Minimizing Dross Generation
nothermic reduction reaction for steel substrates of in Galvanizing, Galvatech, Osaka (2007).
2. M. Gagne, A. Pare, and F. Ajersch, Water Modeling
Mn-Si-Cr-alloyed steel chemistries. of a Continuous Galvanizing Bath, Galvanizers Associa-
4) Significant operation and maintenance cost savings tion (1991).
due to less scheduled line stops for pot roll changes. 3. Y. H. Kim, et al, Numerical Analysis of Fluid Flow
Additionally, significant electricity savings can be ach- and Heat Transfer in Molten Zinc Pot of Continuous
ieved utilizing the heat of the strip to melt zinc ingots Hot-Dip Galvanizing Line, ISIJ Int., 40 (2000).
and less electricity used for strip cooling before the zinc 4. S. K. Dash, et al, Use of Flow Barriers to Eliminate
bath. Vortex in the Flow Field Generated in a Continuous
Galvanizing Bath, ISIJ Int., 45 (2005).
5) Economical and flexible production of GI and GA
5. J. Kurobe and M. Iguchi, Size Effect on Dynamic
in one zinc pot without long bath aluminum transition peri- Behavior of Dross in Model Hot-Dip Plating Bath, Mater.

CORROSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.9, No.5, 2010 185

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Trans., 44 (2003). Hardware, Galvatech, Osaka (2007).

6. U.S. Patent 6,426,122. Method for Hot-Dip Galvanizing, 20. S. J. Lee, S. Kim, M. S. Koh, and J. H. Choi, Flow
NKK Corporation, Jul. 30 (2002). Field Analysis Inside a Molten Zn Pot of the Continuous
7. U.S. Patent 5,084,094. Method and Apparatus for Hot-Dip Galvanizing Process, ISIJ Int., 42, 407 (2002).
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