Effect of Plating Thickness on Fatigue Strength of Galvanized Steel

Effect of the plating thicknesses on tensile and fatigue properties of hot-dip galvanized steel at room temperature was evaluated. The galvanized steel with thickness of 100 μm and 200 μm were prepared. Both microstructures of η-phase and δ1-phase were similar with each other. In the comparison with the galvanized steel with thickness of 100 μm, the microstructure of ζ-phase for the galvanized steel with thickness of 200 μm was blunt columnar structure due to long immersion time. Tensile and fatigue strengths for a galvanized steel are sensitive to the microstructure of the galvanized layer. The tensile strength and the strength of fatigue limit for the galvanized steel with thickness of 200 μm were smaller than that of 100 μm. In the galvanized steel with thickness of 200 μm, the peeling at plating layer easily occurred. The exfoliated sites have the potential to become subcracks. As the result, the main crack may propagate at early cycles.