Patent ID: 7122221
Filing Date: 2006-10-17
Classification: C23C

Abstract:
1. A method for coating a substrate with a metal coating, comprising passing continuous strip steel through an enclosed elongated furnace having strip entry and strip entry seals, providing a gas atmosphere in said furnace, introducing a vapor phase of a metal to be coated on the strip steel by heating a source of metal for coating, which is in communication with said furnace, to the boiling point of the metal source, forcefully directing said combined gas atmosphere and said metal vapor toward said continuous steel strip, and maintaining said gas atmosphere, metal vapor, and surfaces of said furnace exposed to said gas atmosphere and metal vapor at a temperature greater or equal to the metal source, wherein said continuous strip steel is passed through said furnace at a rate and at an entry temperature such that the continuous strip steel surface temperature is greater than the melting point of the metal for coating and less than the boiling point of the metal for coating, and said metal vapor condenses on the steel to form a molten metal coating.