The purpose of this communication is to describe some preliminary results that suggest that renewed consideration should be paid to developing a more corrosion resistant galvanized steel.
As a consequence of a study supported cooperatively by the American Iron and Steel Institute and the International Lead Zinc Research Organization, a large reservoir of galvanized steel samples of known characeristics was available. Nine samples from 3 different manufacturers and having different degrees of (0001) preferred orientation, different grain sizes, and a range of aluminum concentrations were selected for study. Data on these samples are summarized in Table 1.
A typical cathodic polarization curve obtained in aerated 3% NaCl (pH = 6.4) on all samples is shown in Figure 1 (curve A). A similar curve obtained in deaerated NaCl is given for comparison (curve B). The curves obtained in the aerated solution differed slightly in shape for the different samples, but...
