The influence of pre-straining on the corrosion fatigue performance of two hot-dip galvanised steels

The corrosion fatigue behaviour of a hot-dip galvanised ferritic pearlitic steel and of a hot-dip galvanised Ti-alloyed high-strength interstitial free steel was investigated. The testing mode was constant displacement, fully reversed plane bending. Both materials were tested as received and 10% uniaxially pre-strained. The effect of pre-straining on the zinc coating was investigated using polarisation resistance measurements and the scanning reference electrode technique (SRET). It was found that pre-straining is detrimental to the corrosion fatigue behaviour of both steels, due to damage to the zinc coating, leading to increased localised corrosion and in general higher corrosion rates.