Markets

Construction

Many hundreds of different components covering a wide range of applications are sherardized and every year large quantities of bolts, woodscrews, nails, scaffold fittings and hinges are treated, the building and construction industry being one of Bodycote’s traditional and largest markets.

Mining

Sherardizing has helped to shape the history of safe roof support systems for British coal mines since the late 1970’s. During this time, Bodycote assisted with testing by the UK mining industry to establish the best corrosion resistant coating. Bodycote supplied a variety of components using different coatings processes, to ascertain the most suitable coating for hinge pins used in the mine roof support systems.
To this day, Sherardizing is firmly established as the preferred corrosion protection for hinge pins in mine roof support Systems, and has been a key element of exports to the USA, Australia, South Africa and China.

Railways

Reliable corrosion protection is required in damp tunnel environments, particularly in humid countries. Sherardizing was specified to protect some 78,000 cable hangers used to support signalling and telecommunication cables along the walls of the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong.

Originally, the cable hangers were galvanized. However, due to the continuous expansion and contraction of the cables which sit on the hangers, cables were experiencing wear against the rough galvanized surface. As a solution to this problem, Sherardizing of the cable hangers provides a smooth, corrosion resistant surface, protecting both the cable hangers and cables from wear.

Automotive

Land-Rover Ltd uses several methods of protecting ferrous metals against corrosion, based on zinc. In the Land-Rover, metallic finishes in the form of hot dipped galvanized or electrodeposited zinc and the more matt finish of Sherardized work blend with the aluminium alloy sheet which is so widely used for body panels, bonnets, cab structure etc.

Tunneling

The durability and thickness of Sheradizing outperforms the protection afforded by other coating systems, and has long been entrusted with the anti-corrosion protection of components destined for use underground and in wet environments, from the channel tunnel, north sea oil rigs, London's Jubilee Line extension and JCB's 3cx.