Technical notes on cold spray zinc

Technical note · 6 November 2026 · 6 min read

Cold spray zinc vs thermal spray zinc: two different metals on the same steel

Both processes are sold as “zinc spraying”, and both put sacrificial zinc on steel. They are not the same material. One deposits molten metal; the other deposits a paint film loaded with zinc dust. The difference decides which one you can actually use on a given structure — and which one will still be there in fifteen years.

Technical note · 3 November 2026 · 10 min read

Cold galvanizing vs hot-dip: the comparison most articles get wrong

Search "cold galvanizing vs hot-dip galvanizing" and you will find a dozen articles telling you that cold galvanizing gives 5–20 µm of zinc and lasts five to fifteen years. Those articles are not wrong about the process they describe. They are describing electroplating, which is a different thing that happens to share the name. This page compares the material that actually competes with hot-dip galvanizing on structural steel — a zinc-rich cold spray at 80 µm dry film — and shows where the substitution holds and where it does not.