Abstract:
Corrosion protection of steel by using Zn-Co-Fe alloy coatings. It is proposed to use a Zn-Co-Fe coating having a relatively high Co content. According to the invention at least 10 and more particular 10-40 % by wt. Co is used in the Zn-Fe-Co coating. Fe is used in quantity of 1-5 % by wt. and the remaining material is Zn. It has been found that such a coating is much more effective than conventional coatings so that the thickness thereof can be reduced with about 90%. This more than fully compensates for the high cost of Co. It has been found that the difference in electrochemical potential of such coating and the substrate is relatively small. This slows down rapid dissolution of Zn from the coating.