BLOG

Under the background of the booming development of the current industrial and construction fields, the market demand for hot-dip galvanized steel sheets continues to rise due to their excellent corrosion resistance and good processing performance, becoming the focus of the industry. Recently, the hot-dip galvanized steel sheet market has shown many new trends in terms of technological innovation, capacity layout and application expansion.
Innovative achievements are frequent, leading industry changes
Recently, enterprises in the industry have achieved fruitful results in technological innovation. In May 2025, Jiangsu Tonghe New Materials Co., Ltd. successfully obtained the patent for "a hot-dip galvanized sheet and hot-dip galvanized sheet processing device" (authorization announcement number CN222890199U). The processing device involved in the patent is uniquely designed to set a partition plate in the processing tank, dividing it into a pretreatment tank, a degreasing tank and a pickling tank, and is equipped with a pneumatic pressure roller, a motor-driven disc and a brush that moves back and forth, which can efficiently clean up the debris on the galvanized substrate, and then perform degreasing and pickling treatment, which greatly improves the processing efficiency. At the same time, the fan can absorb the dust generated during the cleaning process, protect the working environment, and ensure a continuous and efficient substrate processing process. This innovative achievement effectively improves the efficiency and quality of the pre-production processing of hot-dip galvanized sheets, reduces manual intervention, and provides strong support for large-scale, high-quality production of hot-dip galvanized sheets.

Zhuoyue (Gannan County) Metal Technology Co., Ltd. also won the patent for "a cooling device for hot-dip galvanizing" in June 2025 (authorization announcement number CN222961503U). This cooling device optimizes the cooling link of hot-dip galvanized sheets. A motor is set in the support shell, and the movable plate is connected by an electric push rod. The rotating rod and the fixed seats close to each other are used in conjunction with several push rods to firmly fix galvanized sheets of different widths. The innovation lies in the spiral winding of the exhaust pipe in the external water tank. When the blower and the motor are working, the airflow can blow away the heat on the surface of the rotating galvanized sheet without dead ends, and introduce it into the exhaust pipe through the air outlet cavity. The water in the external water tank absorbs the heat, realizing high-quality cooling of the galvanized sheet while reasonably recycling the heat in the hot air. The insulation pipe effectively isolates the heat loss and improves the energy utilization efficiency. This patented technology solves the key problems in the cooling process of hot-dip galvanized sheet, which not only improves the stability of product quality, but also takes an important step in energy conservation and environmental protection, which is in line with the current concept of green development.

At a time when the demand for high-corrosion-resistant materials in the fields of home appliance manufacturing and high-end construction continues to surge, the coating thickness of hot-dip galvanized steel sheet has become a core indicator that determines the performance of materials. However, in industry practice, products with a coating thickness of 700g have long faced the problem of surface quality control: thick zinc layers are prone to defects such as zinc spots, zinc moire, and edge thickness. When producing thick-gauge strip steel, there are technical bottlenecks such as zinc pot plate bow and uneven zinc layer, which restrict the industrialization process of high-end galvanized products. Faced with this technical challenge, the 1# galvanizing unit of a company's galvanizing plant took the initiative to undertake the task of tackling key problems. Relying on the data experience accumulated in the previous test production, the plant quickly formed a special tackling team to carry out targeted technical breakthroughs for the quality improvement of thick-coated products. With a rigorous process optimization approach, the team implemented refined control over the entire production process, systematically debugging key parameters such as raw material surface cleaning, zinc pot temperature, plating solution composition, and strip running speed, and optimized the production organization process to improve the collaborative efficiency of each link. After continuous process testing and parameter iteration, the core issues such as surface defect control, plate stability, and plating uniformity in thick coating production were successfully solved, and the stable batch production capacity of this specification product was achieved. Behind this technological breakthrough, the full support of the mechanical and electrical support team is indispensable. They strengthened the inspection and maintenance of key equipment, optimized the equipment operating parameters, ensured the stable operation of the production system, and provided solid equipment support for process research. The improvement in the quality of the 700g thick coating product this time marks that the technical strength of the branch in the field of high-end galvanizing has reached a new level, which not only meets the downstream industry's demand for upgrading high-corrosion-resistant materials, but also lays the foundation for the company to expand the high-end product market.

Baosteel also excels in technology research and development. Its application for "a high-strength cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized steel sheet with high surface gloss and its manufacturing method" (publication number CN117344241A) has attracted much attention. The cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized steel sheet under this patented technology includes a steel substrate, a hot-dip galvanized layer and a transition layer between the two. The transition layer is composed of zinc-iron intermetallic compounds, and its average thickness is 2-30% of the thickness of the hot-dip galvanized layer; the grains in the hot-dip galvanized layer are equiaxed crystal morphology, and the average grain size is less than 30% of the thickness of the hot-dip galvanized layer; the steel substrate contains chemical elements such as C, Mn, and Si in a specific proportion. The corresponding manufacturing method covers the steps of obtaining the steel substrate, continuous annealing, and hot-dip galvanizing. The cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized steel sheet prepared by this technology has the advantages of high surface reflectivity, high formability and low cost, providing high-quality material options for industries such as automobiles and home appliances that have strict requirements on appearance and formability.

The patent (publication number CN119980044A) applied by Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. for "a kind of hot-dip galvanized low-density steel based on short process and its preparation method" also brought new breakthroughs to the industry. The chemical composition of this steel has specific mass percentage requirements, and the production process adopts converter or electric furnace smelting, medium and thin slab continuous casting and rolling, pickling, cold rolling, nickel plating, hot-dip galvanizing and other processes. The hot-dip galvanized low-density steel produced has a yield strength of 330-500MPa, a tensile strength of 590-700MPa, and an elongation of 25%-35%. It has the advantages of low density, high formability, low emissions, and high surface quality. It is expected to be widely used in transportation, construction and other fields with growing demand for lightweight.
Optimize the layout of production capacity to meet market demand
From the perspective of production capacity layout, major companies have taken active actions to adapt to changes in market demand. The total investment of the Liangang cold-rolled high-end home appliance plate construction project is about 900 million yuan. It took only 12 months to complete the high-standard delivery, which is more than half a year shorter than the construction period of similar production lines. The project includes a continuous hot-dip galvanizing unit, a semi-automatic packaging unit and supporting public and auxiliary facilities. It is expected to produce 450,000 tons of hot-dip galvanized products annually. The hot-dip galvanized products produced by this production line have high deep drawing performance, and the coating has high adhesion performance, high fingerprint resistance and good coating performance. They are mainly used in home appliances such as refrigerator side panels, washing machine outer drums, and microwave oven inner tanks. After production, it will effectively meet the demand of the home appliance industry for high-quality hot-dip galvanized steel plates and further enhance the competitiveness of Liangang in the high-end home appliance plate market.