1.What are the main application areas?
Equipment casing and protective plates: Used to cover the exterior of conveyors, sorters, crushers, and other equipment, providing safety protection and dust/splash protection.
Conveyor belt side plates/skirts: Prevent waste from falling from the sides during transport. These are the parts that directly contact the waste and experience wear.
Hoppers and chutes: Channels that guide the flow of waste materials, enduring continuous friction and impact.
Structural frame cladding: Although the main load-bearing structure is mostly made of square tubing or structural steel, galvanized steel sheets are sometimes used for decorative cladding or to create non-load-bearing partitions for corrosion protection.
Ventilation duct system: Ventilation and dust removal system ducts within transfer stations are also often made of galvanized steel sheets.
2.Why are galvanized coils so suitable?
Superior Corrosion Resistance (Core Advantage):
Waste transfer stations operate in harsh environments, with air containing corrosive components such as moisture, organic acids, and salts. The galvanized coating provides effective sacrificial anode protection, preventing the steel substrate from rusting and significantly extending equipment lifespan.
High Cost-Effectiveness:
Compared to more corrosion-resistant materials like stainless steel, galvanized steel sheets are significantly cheaper. For large sorting equipment, controlling material costs while meeting lifespan requirements is crucial.
Easy to Process and Manufacture:
Galvanized coils have excellent sheet metal processing properties, allowing them to be processed into various shapes and components required by the equipment through shearing, bending, stamping, and welding (requiring special handling). This is highly beneficial for customizing non-standard equipment.
Smooth Surface, Easy to Clean (Relatively):
The galvanized surface is relatively smooth, making it less prone to adhering to sticky waste, facilitating cleaning and maintenance, and helping to keep the equipment hygienic.
3.What aspects need to be paid attention to?
Zinc Coating Wear:
In areas subjected to continuous friction or impact (such as the bottom of chutes and conveyor belt contact surfaces), the surface zinc coating will wear away. Once the substrate is exposed, rust will begin to form.
Solution: In these high-wear areas, more wear-resistant materials are used as linings, such as wear-resistant steel plates (NM360/400), UHMW-PE (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) plates, or additional wear-resistant treatments are applied to the galvanized sheet.
Welding Issues:
During welding of galvanized sheets, the zinc coating evaporates, producing toxic zinc oxide fumes that are harmful to the welder's health and also affect weld quality, easily leading to porosity and cracks.
Solution: Before welding, the zinc coating in the weld area needs to be ground off, and welding rods specifically designed for galvanized steel should be used. Alternatively, bolted connections and riveting methods can be used more extensively in the design.
Cutting Edge Rust Prevention:
All cut, drilled, or machined edges expose the steel substrate, and these locations are the starting points for rust.
Solution: Treat these cuts with rust prevention, such as by applying zinc-rich paint, rust-preventive paint, or sealant.
4.What are the advantages and disadvantages of using steel compared to ordinary carbon steel?
Ordinary carbon steel rusts rapidly in the environment of a landfill and requires protective coating such as paint. Galvanized steel coils have a much longer corrosion resistance than the combination of ordinary carbon steel and ordinary paint, and eliminate the need for the painting process.
5.How do galvanized coils compare to stainless steel coils?
Stainless steel offers better corrosion resistance, especially against pitting corrosion, but it is significantly more expensive (typically 2-3 times or even more than galvanized sheet). For equipment that is not constantly immersed in water or subjected to extremely corrosive environments, galvanized coils are a more economical option.