Product Performance
 

The Zinc Coating Life Predictor , was developed by Gregory Zhang of Teck Cominco Metals Ltd., has led to a new way to estimate the corrosion rate of zinc in various environments. The program performs calculations based on models that were developed using statistical methods, neural network technology and an extensive worldwide corrosion database.

The environmental data input required to estimate a corrosion rate includes temperature, airborne salinity, sulfur dioxide concentration, relative humidity, rainfall, and sheltering condition (indoor, rain-sheltered, or outdoor). Once these values are known, the software calculates and reports a corrosion rate and also gives the option to either calculate the predicted life, given the coating thickness, or the coating thickness required to achieve a specified life. This software was used to develop an anticipated service life of hot-dip galvanized steel of varying coating thicknesses in a wide array of environments.

The following cities were used to describe the five different types of corrosive climates:

	Rural	Temperate Marine	Tropical Marine	Suburban	Industrial
	Boise, ID	Seattle, WA	Miami, FL	Vallejo, CA	Pocatello, ID
	Las Cruces, NM	San Francisco, CA	Corpus Christi, TX	Tucson, AZ	Los Angeles, CA
	Fargo, ND	Milwaukee, WI	San Diego, CA	Cedar Rapids, IA	Chicago, IL
	Little Rock, AK	Norfolk, VA	Cancun, Mexico	Jackson, MS	Dallas, TX
	Rome, NY	Atlantic City, NJ	Mazatlan, Mexico	Harrisburg, PA	New York, NY
	Macon, GA	Boston, MA	Miami, Fl	Columbia, SC	Knoxville, TN