With the present day high maintenance and replacement costs of iron and steel, oxidation of these materials presents greater problem than ever before to the corrosion engineer. The methods of combating oxidation on steel and iron are many and varied, and probably the least publicized is the metallizing process whereby pure zinc and aluminum are sprayed onto the surface to be protected.
Metallizing is continually gaining recognition in this field because of service records on jobs that have been done in this country during the past twenty years. The interior of water storage tanks metallized with zinc in the early thirties on Long Island and at Erie, Pennsylvania show clearly that the loss of weight in the steel structure can be almost completely eliminated by this method. The exterior of gas holders metallized in Southern California about the same time are in excellent condition today even though exposed to brine...
