Abstract
The effect of the alloy elements(Si/Mn) ratio on the coating quality including wettabilty with molten zinc, galvannealing kinetics and crater has been investigated in interstitial-free high strength steel(IFHSS) containing Si and Mn. When the Si/Mn ratio was below 0.75, IF-HSS exhibited a good wettability leading to a good galvannealed coating quality after annealing at $800^{\circ}C$ for 40s in $15%H_2-N_2$ mixed gas with dew point $-60^{\circ}C$. In contrast, the wettability and galvannealed coating quality were deteriorated in the Si/ Mn ratio above 0.75. It is shown that they have relevance to oxides forms by selective oxidation on the steel surface. The oxide particles dispersed on the steel surface with a surface coverage of below 40% resulted in good wettability and galvannealed coating quality. The oxide particle is mainly consisted of $Mn_2SiO_4$ with low contact angle in molten zinc. On the other hand, the continuous oxide layer on the steel surface, such as network- and film-type,caused to poor wettability and galvannealed coating quality. The coverage of oxide layer was above 80%, and its chemical species was $SiO_2$ with high contact angle in molten zinc. Consequently, the Si/Mn alloy ratio played an importance role in galvannealed coating quality of IF-HSS.