Removal of Galvenised coating

[Vijay Deshpande]

Dear All,
Is there any method by which Zinc layer from the galvenised surface can be removed other than grit blasting, The method should be such that it should only remove zinc layer without affecting the base metal.
Thanks and Regards
Vijay Deshpande

[Gordon]

Hi Vijay

You could try stripping using hydrochloric acid solution. You will need to take care as this acid will also attack the steel substrate, particularly when all the zinc has gone.

I remember using concentrated hydrochloric acid with ~20g/l antimony trioxide to remove galvanising from parts for analytical purposes where substrate protection was very important.