Strip pre-oxidation for galvanised strip in a full radiant tube furnace

Advanced high strength steel grades are known to have poor zinc wettability when using a full radiant tube processing cycle. A laboratory study was used to determine the effects of a surface pre-oxidation stage, followed by reduction stage before Zn coating. The work was successful and identified an adequate process window to enable industrial use of this approach. An industrial version is currently under construction in a galvanising line.