Novel zinc-based alloys used to improve the corrosion protection of metallic substrates

The protection of metallic structural components against corrosion is fundamental to preserve their mechanical properties in aggressive environments. Zn-based coating represents one of the most used techniques to make protective coatings for metallic substrates. In the present paper, two types of novel zinc-based coating are proposed, by employing either a tin addition or an aluminium-tin-copper addition to the traditional zinc bath. The behaviour of steel-coated specimens under bending is experimentally and numerically investigated by considering different bath dipping times. A quite satisfactory agreement between experimental and numerical results is observed, especially under plastic behaviour regime.