The Effect of the Number of Eutectic Grains on Coating Growth During Hot Dip Galvanising of Ductile Iron Castings

Studies were conducted on a zinc coating produced on the surface of ductile iron grade EN-GJS-500-7 to determine the eutectic grain effect. For this purpose, castings with a wall thickness of 5 to 30 mm were made and the resulting structure was examined. To obtain a homogeneous metal matrix, samples were subjected to a ferritising annealing treatment. To enlarge the reaction surface, the top layer was removed from casting by machining. Then hot dip galvanising treatment was performed at 450°C to capture the kinetics of growth of the zinc coating (in the period from 60 to 600 seconds). Analysing the test results it was found that within the same time of hot dip galvanising, the differences in the resulting zinc coating thickness on samples taken from castings with different wall cross-sections were small but could, particularly for shorter times of treatment, reduce the continuity of the alloyed layer of the zinc coating.