Zinc, the fourth most commonly used metal in the world, is surprisingly not well known. Its unique properties make it ideal for a number of applications, including coatings, castings and energy storage.
More than half the zinc metal produced is used to protect steel from corrosion. Zinc coatings protect steel in two ways; first as a barrier coating, isolating the steel from the corrosive environment, and secondly, as a sacrificial anode that will corrode preferentially to protect the steel. There is no better cost effective corrosion protection system for steel than zinc based coatings.
Having admirable mechanical properties, [tensile strength, impact strength, elongation, fluidity, electrical and thermal conductivity] zinc is an excellent engineering material used to make a wide range of cast consumer products. While just about any casting process can be used with zinc alloys, over eighty percent of all zinc casting are produced by the pressure die casting process.
Energy storage systems based on zinc have high energy densities, are safe, reliable, and economical. Zinc is used for the anodes in well known alkaline batteries and hearing aid batteries, for example, and are being tested and evaluated for other portable and large scale energy storage systems.
Zinc is also used in cosmetics, chemicals, architectural products and many other industrial and consumer applications. Zinc is also essential for human life and zinc deficiency is recognized as a serious impediment to human development.