ZAMAK (or Zamac, formerly trademarked as MAZAK[1]) is an eclectic family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper.
Zamak alloys are part of the zinc aluminium alloy family; they are distinguished from the other ZA alloys because of their constant 4% aluminium composition.[2]
The name zamak is an acronym of the German names for the metals of which the alloys are composed: Zink (zinc), Aluminium, Magnesium and Kupfer (copper).[2] The New Jersey Zinc Company developed zamak alloys in 1929.
The most common zamak alloy is zamak 3. Besides that, zamak 2, zamak 5 and zamak 7 are also commercially used.[2] These alloys are most commonly die cast.[2] Zamak alloys (particularly #3 and #5) are frequently used in the spin casting industry.
A large problem with early zinc die casting materials was zinc pest, owing to impurities in the alloys.[3] Zamak avoided this by the use of 99.99% pure zinc metal, produced by New Jersey Zinc's use of a refluxer as part of the refining process.
Zamak can be electroplated, wet painted, and chromate conversion coated well.[4]
- ^ Zamak Latest Status Info, retrieved 2008-03-02
- ^ a b c d Diecasting Alloys, retrieved 2008-03-02
- ^ Wanhill, R.J.H.; Hattenberg, T. (May 2005), Corrosion-induced cracking of model train zinc-aluminum die castings (PDF), National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, NLR-TP-2005-205, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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