Zinc is one of the most used metals, ranking fourth in worldwide production and consumption behind iron, aluminum, and copper. This article commences with an overview of the applications of zinc that can be divided into six categories: coatings, casting alloys, alloying element in brass and other alloys, wrought zinc alloys, zinc oxide, and zinc chemicals. It discusses the corrosion and electrochemical behavior of zinc and its alloys in various environments, particularly in atmospheres in which they are most widely used. The article tabulates the corrosion rates of zinc and zinc coatings immersed in various types of waters, in different solutions in the neutral pH range, and in soils at different geographic locations in the United States. It concludes with information on the forms of corrosion encountered in zinc coatings, including galvanic corrosion, pitting corrosion, and intergranular corrosion.

This article provides information on the properties, compositions, designations, and applications of zinc and zinc alloys. It discusses the principal areas of application of zinc: in coatings and anodes for corrosion protection of irons and steels; in zinc casting alloys; as an alloying element in copper, aluminum, magnesium, and other alloys; in wrought zinc alloys; and in zinc chemicals. The zinc coating applications of hot dip galvanizing, electrogalvanizing, plating, and thermal spray are presented. The use of zinc alloys in both gravity and pressure die castings is discussed as well as the three main types of wrought products: flat-rolled products, wire-drawn products, and extruded and forged products. The article also provides a section on the corrosion resistance of zinc and zinc coatings in various atmospheres.

This article describes the zinc and zinc alloys for decorative and functional applications. It focuses on the types of zinc coatings, namely, hot dip galvanizing, electrogalvanizing, metallizing, and mechanical galvanizing. The article covers the uses of zinc alloy castings, including pressure die castings, and gravity castings. It details the wrought products of zinc and zinc alloys, including flat-rolled products, wire-drawn products, extruded products, and forged products. The article also describes various properties of zinc alloys, including mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, and magnetic properties. The listing for each alloy includes chemical compositions, relevant specifications, mass characteristics, and fabrication characteristics.

Die casting is the process most often used for shaping zinc alloys. This article tabulates the compositions of zinc casting alloys and comparison of typical mechanical properties of zinc casting alloys. It discusses additions of alloys to the zinc, including aluminum, magnesium, copper, and iron. The article illustrates a characteristic five-layer microstructure of zinc alloy casings. It discusses the various methods of finishing of zinc alloy die castings, including chromium plating, polishing, painting, and electropainting. The article describes the casting of inserts and their uses in the zinc. It concludes with information on the applications of zinc die castings.

This article is a compilation of binary alloy phase diagrams for which zinc (Zn) is the first named element in the binary pair. The diagrams are presented with element compositions in weight percent. The atomic percent compositions are given in a secondary scale. For each binary system, a table of crystallographic data is provided that includes the composition, Pearson symbol, space group, and prototype for each phase.

This article discusses the specimen preparation techniques for zinc and its alloys and zinc-coated specimens, namely, sectioning, mounting, grinding and polishing, and etching. It describes the characteristics of lead, cadmium, iron, copper, titanium, aluminum, magnesium, and tin, which are present in the microstructure of zinc alloys. The article also provides information on microexamination that helps to determine the dendrite arm spacing, as well as the grain size, grain boundaries, and grain counts.

Zinc and zinc alloys require surface engineering prior to coating or use to improve adhesion and corrosion resistance. Die-cast zinc parts, in addition, must be trimmed and finished to remove flash and parting lines. This article covers zinc cleaning procedures as well as coating and finishing processes. It explains how to remove parting lines and presents several mechanical finishing methods, including surface polishing, brushing, controlled shot peening, and buffing. It also provides information on solvent cleaning, emulsion cleaning, aqueous detergent or alkaline cleaning), electrocleaning, acid dipping, and zinc conversion coating treatments.

The use of zinc in corrosion-protective coatings is due to its higher galvanic activity relative to that of steel. Pure zinc dust provides the best sacrificial protection to steel in a galvanic couple. Zinc-rich coatings can be subcategorized according to the type of binder material used, namely, inorganic and organic zinc-rich coatings. Common inorganic binders such as post-cured water-based alkali metal silicates, self-cured water-based alkali metal silicates, and self-cured solvent-based alkyl silicates, are reviewed. The article also compares inorganic and organic zinc-rich coatings, and discusses the concerns regarding zinc-rich coatings.

This article provides information on the compositions of alkaline and acid baths and process parameters for zinc-iron, zinc-cobalt, zinc-nickel, and tin-zinc plating.

Commercial zinc plating is accomplished by a number of distinctively different systems: cyanide baths, alkaline noncyanide baths, and acid chloride baths. This article focuses on the composition, advantages, disadvantages, operating parameters, and applications of each of the baths. It provides information on the control of thicknesses of zinc specified for service in various indoor and outdoor atmospheres and on the similarities between cadmium and zinc plating.

This article describes the control of alloy composition and impurity levels in die casting of zinc alloys based on agitation, use of foundry scrap, and melt temperature and fluxing. It reviews the process considerations for the melt processing of the zinc alloys. The process considerations include the usage of furnaces and launder system, scrap return, inclusions in zinc alloys, fluxing of zinc alloys, and galvanizing fluxes. The article discusses the materials and lubricant selection, casting and die temperature control, and trimming process used in hot chamber die casting for zinc alloys. It also reviews other casting processes for zinc alloys, such as sand casting, permanent mold casting, plaster mold casting, squeeze casting, and semisolid casting.

This article discusses various machining techniques of zinc alloy die castings. These include turning, boring, drilling, reaming, tapping, die threading, milling, and sawing. In addition, the article describes the factors that influence machinability of the zinc alloy die castings.

This article describes the characteristics of zinc-rich coatings that can be subcategorized according to the type of binder material used. It discusses the formulations of zinc-rich coatings with organic binders. The three major groups of inorganic zinc-rich coatings categorized by the Society for Protective Coatings are also discussed. These include postcured water-based alkali metal silicates, self-cured water-based alkali metal silicates, and self-cured solvent-based alkyl silicates. The article concludes with information on comparisons of inorganic with organic zinc-rich coatings.