Corrosion protection for cold-formed structural steel elements

Unprotected steel and steel structures exposed to the atmosphere inevitably corrode. For thin-gauged structures especially, corrosion is critical for stability. Although the reduction in thickness caused by corrosion is insignificant for some structures, in other structures corrosion is unacceptable. Therefore, corrosion protection is a crucial issue for steel structures and the steel industry. Over the last decades, many new corrosion protection systems and innovative steel products have been introduced onto the market. Corrosion protection for cold-formed structural steel elements has been standardized through the introduction of the EN 1090-4. This paper introduces the harmonized rules for the corrosion protection of loadbearing thin-gauged structures. The zinc-magnesium-aluminium (ZM) metal coating system developed in recent years is also dealt with.