What are the Components of Galvanized Steel?

Galvanization is a treatment used on metals, including various types of steel, to make them more resistant to corrosion and oxidation that can weaken them over time. While steel is naturally resistant to these effects, galvanization makes it even more so. Galvanized steel is used for many applications that require extreme strength and durability, including constructing boats and buildings.

Zinc

• What makes galvanized steel galvanized is a thin coating of zinc. When zinc is applied to steel, a chemical reaction occurs by which the zinc permanently bonds to the steel. More specifically, the zinc reacts with the iron molecules in the steel. While the outermost layer of galvanized steel is zinc, deeper layers of the coating are a mixture of zinc and iron. The zinc acts as a sacrificial layer, facing the damaging effects of the elements first so that the interior steel structure may remain untouched. Galvanization is often achieved by dipping steel in melted zinc, although there are various other industrial processes used for applying zinc to steel.

Iron

• A primary component of steel is iron. Steel is iron that has been combined with other metals to create a superior material. The most basic forms of steel were simply enriched with carbon. The typical carbon content of steel is between 0.10 and 2 percent. Iron with a carbon content higher than this is simply cast iron. Iron that contains nothing but carbon is called non-alloy steel, while steel that has been enriched with other materials as well is called alloy-steel.

Other Metals

• There are more than 3,000 cataloged types of steel, according to SteelConstruct.com, the website of a major European steel trade association. And that's not counting steels that have been created to meet customized demand. However, certain metals are commonly used to make different grades of steel, including galvanized steel. These include nickel, chromium, and tungsten. The addition of such metals changes the characteristics of steel so that it can be adapted for different applications. For instance, steel used to make cutting tools, including kitchen knives, needs to be particularly resistant to corrosion from acids found in foods, while steel used for automobile components like exhaust systems needs to be highly resistant to heat.