Material Guide

Electro Galvanizing Versus Hot Dip Galvanizing for Wire and Mesh

Two processes, two base steels, two gauge ranges and a tenfold difference in coating weight.

They are not the same product

Electric galvanized iron wire is processed from low carbon steel wire by drawing and electric galvanizing, and is stocked in gauges from 8# to 16#. Hot-dip galvanized iron wire is made from super carbon steel by drawing and hot-dip zinc coating, in gauges from 8# to 24#. Different base steel, different gauge range, different coating.

Coating weight is the real difference

The thick zinc-coating layer of hot-dipped galvanized iron wire offers super corrosion resistance with a firm coating layer, at 40 to 300 grams per square metre. Electro galvanizing puts down a thin, even layer - good enough for indoor work and for wire that will be woven and then coated again, but not for a decade outdoors.

Where electro galvanizing is the right answer

Weaving feedstock, indoor products, and fencing for expressway and construction where the finished mesh will be coated after weaving. The surface is cleaner and more uniform, which matters on a loom.

Where hot dip earns its price

Anything permanently outdoors: fence lines, gabion wire, agricultural netting, coastal installations. On hexagonal wire netting the published minimum galvanization of 30 to 145 g/m2 applies only to hot dipped netting, and only at the typical wire diameter stipulated in that column.

Gauge ranges differ

Hot dip covers 8# to 24#, electro only 8# to 16#. If you need a fine wire hot dipped, check availability before you specify it.

What to ask for

Name the process, the gauge and the gauge system, and the coating weight in grams per square metre. Then check the delivered coil tag against all three.

Every figure in this guide is taken from our own published product data. Where we have never published a number, this guide says so.