finishing-and-treatment-manufacturing-processes > Iron Phosphating

Iron Phosphating is a Conversion Coating process by which the surface of a metal is transformed into a crystalline structure of phosphates through the use of chemical solutions either applied by spray or submersion techniques.

Iron Phosphating is most effective on ferrous metals, where a coarse through to fine crystalline structure can be formed providing an excellent base for further coating. For this reason, Iron Phosphating is commonly used as a pre-treatment for powder coating as the crystalline structure offers superior adhesion to the base metal.

Iron Phosphating offers corrosion resistance on ferrous metals, allowing the painted or powder coated surface to be damaged and still remain corrosion resistant.

Iron Phosphating can be used to pre-treat aluminium also, however it’s far less effective compared with ferrous metals. For this reason, if used on aluminium, it is almost always used in combination with a further coating such as Powder Coating.