Zinc Plating

Zinc Plating Book Details

Zinc Plating by Herb Geduld is a specialized zinc plating book for finishers, plating engineers, shop supervisors, troubleshooters, and technical readers who need more than a casual overview of zinc electroplating. The book is listed as a 360-page hardcover, with publication listings from Finishing Publications, Ltd. in 1988 and ASM International in 1990 under ISBN 090447710X. That places the title in a period when zinc plating was already a mature industrial process, but one still shaped by changing expectations for corrosion resistance, appearance, post-treatment chemistry, wastewater control, and repeatable production quality.

The value of a zinc plating book like this is that zinc electroplating can look simple from a distance while being demanding in practice. It is often summarized as a sacrificial coating for steel, but the working process involves far more than putting zinc on a part. A useful reference has to help the reader think through cleaning, pickling, activation, bath chemistry, current density, anode behavior, brightener balance, throwing power, rack or barrel operation, thickness control, chromate or passivate treatment, hydrogen embrittlement concerns, rinsing, drying, inspection, and corrosion testing. For a finishing shop, those details determine whether parts meet specification and survive the real service environment.

Geduld’s Zinc Plating is best understood as a practical technical reference rather than a broad beginner’s guide to metal finishing. It appears most useful for readers who already know the vocabulary of electroplating and want a dedicated zinc reference on the shelf. Zinc remains one of the most widely used protective finishes for steel fasteners, brackets, stampings, hardware, and industrial components. When properly specified and controlled, zinc plating can extend service life, reduce corrosion failures, and support more sustainable use of steel parts by keeping them in service longer instead of sending them prematurely into replacement and waste streams.

This zinc plating book connects directly to recurring shop-floor questions. Why do deposits burn at high-current-density areas? Why does coverage fall short in recesses? Why do some parts leave the line bright while others look dull or cloudy? Why does salt-spray performance change after a different post-treatment, drying condition, or handling step? Why can a nominally correct coating still fail when cleaning, activation, or process control is weak? A process-specific book cannot replace current specifications, supplier instructions, or modern environmental requirements, but it can give the reader a stronger foundation for asking better questions and recognizing the variables that matter.

The book is also relevant because zinc plating sits at the intersection of engineering, production economics, and environmental responsibility. Shops choose zinc for cost-effective corrosion protection, but the best result depends on matching the coating system to the part geometry, base metal, service exposure, and specification. A good zinc plating book helps readers see the coating as a system: pretreatment, deposit, conversion coating or passivate, sealers when used, inspection, packaging, and handling all contribute to the final performance.

This title also has historical value. Older electroplating books often explain the reasoning behind practices that later became routine shop knowledge. They can help a reader understand how finishers thought about cyanide zinc, acid chloride zinc, alkaline zinc, brightener systems, chromates, corrosion testing, and production control before many of today’s regulatory and chemistry changes. That perspective is useful when reading older specifications, troubleshooting inherited processes, or comparing traditional references with current vendor recommendations.

Because used technical books can vary widely in price and availability, this page is also a buying guide. If you are searching for a zinc plating book by Herb Geduld, confirm the ISBN, author, page count, publisher listing, and condition before buying. Marketplace listings may be sparse, duplicated, or attached to the wrong edition, so it is worth checking more than one source. For buyers building a finishing library, Zinc Plating belongs with electroplating handbooks, corrosion references, and process-specific books on related coatings such as cadmium alternatives, zinc alloy plating, galvanizing, and chromate conversion coatings.

Related Finishing.com Resources

• Finishing.com search: zinc plating book – Search Finishing.com for related archive discussions and technical context.
• Improving Your Chloride Zinc Plating Operation – Finishing.com technical article on common chloride zinc plating operating problems.
• Galvanizing FAQ – Background on zinc coatings and the difference between galvanizing and thinner zinc plating.

External Resources

• WorldCat search for ISBN 090447710X – Library catalog search for this title and ISBN.
• Google Books search for ISBN 090447710X – Book search for alternate bibliographic records.