The galvannealed steel sheets have received ever increased attention because of their excellent post-painting corrosion resistance and good weldability. However, its powdering and flaking tendency during press forming processes strongly impairs its performance. In order to optimize the properties of galvanneal coatings, it is critical to control the reaction rate between solid iron and molten zinc.In commercial galvannealing line, aluminum is added to zinc bath to retard the diffusion rate between iron and zinc by the formation of a thin layer of Al intermetallic compound on the surface of steel at initial hot-dip galvanizing. However, the form of this compound and its transformation are still speculated. In this paper, we report the direct observations of this compound and its transformation.The specimens were prepared in a hot-dip simulator in which the steel was galvanized in the zinc bath containing 0.14 wt% of Al at a temperature of 480 °C for 5 seconds and was quenched by liquid nitrogen.
