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In recent years, automotive component manufacturer's use of autodeposited coatings has dramatically increased due to the performance, cost-effectiveness, versatility and environmental advantages that this technology offers. Although historically used to coat only steel substrates, the increased use of zinc and zinc alloy coatings presents further market opportunity for autodeposition of coatings. Due to differences in chemical reactivity between steel and zinc, obtaining high quality coatings by acidic chemical deposition (autodeposition) has required some process development innovations. In this paper, the procedure of coating deposition on galvanized surfaces is described and compared to the deposition on steel. Corrosion performance of autodeposited coatings on galvanized steel is evaluated by a cyclic corrosion test and compared to the performance of another widely used coating for galvanized substrates.

Over the past three years, the number of commercial installations in North America employing autodeposition processes to apply organic coatings to metal surfaces has increased from six to twenty, while the annual square footage has increased three-fold - a rate which will continue to grow in the near future. The advantages of autodeposition in coating severely recessed areas and complex composite assemblies are well known. This paper highlights recent developments in autodeposition coatings for zinc and cast iron surfaces plus the commercialization of novel curing techniques. Equipment considerations for the process are also discussed.