Modeling Nucleation and Growth of Zinc Grains in Hot-Dip Galvanized Coatings

Hot-dip galvanized Zn-0.2wt%Al coatings on steel sheets exhibit a strong basal texture ({0001} parallel to the sheet plane). Part of this texture call be explained by the faster growth of < 10 (1) over bar0 > dendrites as compared with < 0001 >, granting basal grains (i.e. grains with their basal plane parallel to the sheet) a larger extension than others. But Semoroz et al. [1] showed that the fraction of basal grains itself is also higher than its value in a population of randomly oriented grains. This indicates that more basal grains nucleate during the early stages of solidification.