A world without rust buckets

The use of the term “rust bucket” to refer to an ageing car is attested to by various dictionaries, television shows and songs.

VOX, a German TV station, even broadcasts a weekly programme called For sale: rust bucket. Wanted: dream car. Reinhard May, likewise from Germany, sings of turning his old banger into a lowrider. But if we’re going to be honest, the days of the rust bucket are over. I mean, when did you last sit in a car with rusty holes in the footwell?

The fact that the bottom is no longer figuratively and literally hanging out of your car is thanks in no small part to Kuhn Special Steel. This is because the components that we supply do not give rust a chance. Nearly all steel components are fully galvanised nowadays, as confirmed by the hot-dip galvanising of sheet metal used in the car industry. The corresponding zinc layers provide active corrosion protection.

The two faces of zinc

Zinc is nevertheless a two-faced material. The zinc so applied is “sacrificial” in the sense that it gives itself up chemically to the lower-quality metals contained in steel. This means that the zinc sheds electrons and dissolves, while the steel remains intact. This is why we speak of “active” corrosion prevention. Molten zinc, on the other hand, is extremely corrosive. It attacks surrounding metal as it flows through strip-galvanising equipment, causing it to corrode.

This has to be prevented. In order to do so, Kuhn Special Steel analyses the zinc bath used in the process. The material of the sink/ground and stabilisation rollers and that of the end caps and bushes manufactured by Kuhn Special Steel is matched to the corresponding zinc, aluminium/zinc or zinc/aluminium/magnesium bath. The result: they last longer. Components such as sink rollers do not then need to be replaced or reworked so often, which prevents breakdowns of the continuous galvanising plant, thereby increasing our customers’ productivity. It also results in a price advantage, which is passed on to car buyers.

Kuhn Special Steel is therefore helping to ensure that the term “rust bucket” eventually disappears from our vocabulary, as the vehicles that it refers to no longer rust. It also means that the cars coming off the production line should cost a little less.

Photos: lessingtiede; ©  tommy630greg – stock.adobe.com