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Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Is a Finish Required

My company typically uses hot dipped galvanized steel for exterior structural work. We are considering using some aluminum for some exterior structural applications but I am not sure if it is acceptable to use a plain mill finish. Appeaarnce is not an issue, it is just a question of how long will a plain mill finish aluminum last? I understand that there are many factors that affect corrosin rates, but was hoping someone had some general information on expected life cycle.

Michael Zuritis
Contractor - Ballston Lake, New York, USA
February 10, 2010

I used to do some pretreatment work for aluminum that fell under architectural standards. You might want to search for those and start there.

Christian M. Restifo
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 3, 2010

You will need some type of pretreatment and finishing of the Al. The Zinc and Al will set up a galvanic cell and the bimetallic corrosion will attack the galvanizing.

David J. Wolf
Medina, Ohio
March 10, 2010

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