2012-02-10 10:39:09 - Coating with aluminium is significantly more cost-effective than galvanising

At the Wire AlumGreen presents - for the first time in the world - the completely new process for coating cold drawn steel products with aluminium. With this process a more homogeneous and durable coating is achieved than by galvanising. Not only that: production costs are reduced radically and natural resources are protected at the same time.



AlumGreen has developed a unique process for corrosion protection of cold drawn steel products using aluminium. The process is ready for normal industrial application and is the first of its type in the world. The company is presenting at Wire - a premiere for the trade - the first ever 12-strand plant for steel wire. This is currently being built to the order of

a Russian customer at Zink Körner in Hagen (Germany).



Aluminium coatings are superior to zinc coatings with respect to their corrosion resistance by a high factor. Consequently this new process provides the most durable corrosion protection currently available today on the market.



The AlumGreen process is based on a completely new approach. A corrosion protection layer is added to the wire as it is led through a closed coating chamber filled with molten aluminium. As the wire runs through the coating plant continuously, there is no limit to the length of the wire to be coated.



Better protection at a significantly lower cost



Aluminium yields for a lower coating thickness a protective effect several hundred percent more effective than that for zinc. Consequently the AlumGreen process reduces significantly both purchasing and production costs. The most important factor is that the material costs for aluminium are only around a third of those for zinc. Initial investigations reveal that the overall production cost is 30 % lower than for galvanising.



AlumGreen will present at Wire the first coated wire samples. In the future the company will extend applications of the process to products like steel strip, narrow tubes and reinforcing steel.



Compatibility with the environment and sustainability



As a result of the reduced metal usage, lower transport costs and no fluxing agents or harmful chlorides at all, the effect of the AlumGreen process on natural resources is much less than for galvanising plant.



Another major advantage: AlumGreen is very much a process for the future. Whereas the known reserves of zinc will only last another 21 years, it is predicted that those for aluminium will be sufficient for more than 200 years.



AlumGreen at Wire 2012 in Düsseldorf:

Hall 9, stand C14