Designing for Galvanizing: What to Look For in Your Steel Fabricator

hy Designing for Galvanizing Requires Special Knowledge and Techniques
Choosing structural materials for your building project involves some of the biggest decisions you’ll make. While designing for galvanizing requires special techniques and knowledge, it offers a variety of critical benefits for your project that include:

Lower initial cost
Better longevity and durability
Availability and sustainability
Versatility
Aesthetics
No matter what design you’re planning for your building project, designing for galvanizing is a good choice. Initially developed to battle corrosion concerns, hot-dip galvanizing is being used in a variety of settings to support every kind of structure imaginable.

Once you’ve decided on galvanized steel, you need to choose a steel fabricator and erector that has the expertise to work with it.

What is galvanizing? The galvanizing process has been around for 150 years. It involves taking a piece of steel, which has been chemically cleaned, and dipping it into molten zinc that has been heated to over 800 degrees. The resulting chemical reaction provides multiple layers of corrosion protection.

Considerations to keep in mind: Not every steel company is equipped to properly galvanize steel for your design. There are special techniques involved, and even the broader design process requires a high level of collaboration between the various parties involved in the project. The architect, engineer, fabricator and galvanizer should all be communicating openly to address a variety of topics related to designing for galvanizing:

The chemistry and surface condition of the steel
Size and shape of steel components
Welding and threaded parts or connections
Process temperature and heat for galvanizing
Post galvanizing use of steel for structure
Understanding these aspects of the galvanizing process and how they impact the final structure is critical to the success of your building project. You’ll find that the extra attention is worth the trouble: it is estimated that galvanized steel corrodes at 1/30 the rate of untreated steel. While this rate may vary depending on the environment and climate, galvanized steel is far more able to resist corrosion than other products.


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