.gif?width=220&height=200&mediaprotectionhash=b13da841472e6e7ed500ee35df2a350aaf53d75246118b33ea2095cc7e9a3fc4&ext=.gif)
ThyssenKrupp’s Agozal DoubleDip Approved for Crash Barriers
01/16/2009 - ThyssenKrupp Steel’s twice-galvanized Agozal DoubleDip steel coil is approved as a material for highway crash barriers.
ThyssenKrupp Steel’s Agozal DoubleDip® twice-galvanized steel coil has been approved as a material for highway crash barriers.
The twice-galvanized steel coil earned the approval following five years of long-term trials by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, BASt) and further investigations by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung, BAM), which found the TKS material to provide comparable performance for crash barrier beam applications when compared to batch-galvanized barriers. Although the two materials performed comparably, crash barriers made of Agozal DoubleDip provide the additional benefit of high cost effectiveness as compared to batch-galvanized barriers.
The twice-galvanized steel coil earned the approval following five years of long-term trials by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, BASt) and further investigations by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung, BAM), which found the TKS material to provide comparable performance for crash barrier beam applications when compared to batch-galvanized barriers. Although the two materials performed comparably, crash barriers made of Agozal DoubleDip provide the additional benefit of high cost effectiveness as compared to batch-galvanized barriers.
Historically, crash barrier manufacturers have worked with hot-rolled steel strip, which they profile before dipping each finished part into a zinc bath. This batch galvanizing has traditionally been regarded as the best available technology for long-term corrosion protection of steel crash barriers. The newly approved Agozal DoubleDip offers at least the same degree of corrosion resistance without the need for additional processing other than profiling. The new material thus eliminates the need for all of the logistics associated with batch galvanizing as well as the associated costs. According to the company, the material is also suitable for motorcycle under-run protection beams.
ThyssenKrupp Steel produces Agozal DoubleDip at its Neuwied plant using a unique hot dip galvanizing line in which steel can be passed through either one or two zinc baths. The first coat consists of pure zinc, and the second coat contains a mixture of 95% zinc and 5% aluminum. When the steel is passed through both baths, the result is Agozal DoubleDip.
ThyssenKrupp’s continuous coating process produces an extremely adherent coating that allows the steel strip to be formed without difficulty. The process also uses less zinc, which helps to keep costs down. The zinc coating produced by the DoubleDip hot dip galvanizing process is 42 micrometers thick and offers the same corrosion protection as the zinc coating applied by batch galvanizing, which varies on average between 70 and 110 micrometers in thickness.
