Fatigue Properties of Sheet Steel Before and After Galvanizing

Some automotive components made from thinner sheet steels (conventional and high strength steels) are making use of corrosion protection, particularly hot dip galvanizing. This paper studies the effects of continuous strip hot dip galvanizing on the fatigue properties. Three steels were studied before and after galvanizing - an aluminum killed drawing quality steel, a non shape controlled, and a shape controlled 50 k.s.i. steels were taken.

From comparisons with previously obtained data for uncoated steels and corroded steels it was shown that, although a small decrease in fatigue strength resulted from the galvanizing, the elimination of corrosion effects caused a net improvement in performance.