Post treatment of silane and cerium salt as chromate replacers on galvanized steel

A complex film on hot-dip galvanized steel sheet (HDG) was prepared by immersing the sheet in 0.1wt.% Ce(NO3)3 solution and 5vol.% silane solution in turn. The corrosion protection of the complex film was evaluated by potentiodynamic linear polarization(LPR), electrochemical impendence spectra (EIS) and natural salt spray (NSS) tests and compared with that of single cerium film and silane film. The results showed that, the presence of these films on the zinc coating hindered corrosion reaction by reducing the rate of both anodic and cathodic reaction in the corrosion process, and the corrosion protection of the complex film was much better than that of single cerium film or silane film and closed to that of chromate film, because the polarization resistance Rp and electrochemical impendence were increased markedly. Microstructure and chemical composition of these pretreated films were also investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and AES.