The Trend of Protective Metal Spraying Practice

Metal spraying was first established in this country on a commercial basis in 1922, since when the demand for the process has increased at a truly remarkable rate. The protection of ferrous materials by means of sprayed coatings of zinc and aluminium has in fact now become commonplace. A wide range of metals and alloys which are regularly deposited by the spraying process finds service in many different applications. The amount of metal sprayed for anti‐corrosive coatings, however, far exceeds the total amount used for other purposes. Prior to the last war, sprayed zinc coatings were in greatest demand, but since then there has been a marked preference for those of aluminium. The utilisation of sprayed aluminium has by no means been fully exploited and the range of products being protected in this way is daily expanding. This is mainly due to the fact that, besides providing extremely efficient protection of ferrous materials, the spraying process continues to be the best and in certain instances the only practical method of depositing the metal.