Resource-saving method for zinc phosphating of a metal surface

A method for anti-corrosion pretreatment of a metal material that at least partially has surfaces of zinc or of a component that is composed at least partially of such a metal material, in which method the metal material or the component undergoes firstly (i) an activation step and then (ii) a zinc phosphation step, in consecutive method steps,

• wherein the activation step (i) is carried out by contacting the metal material or the component with a colloidal aqueous solution containing (a) a dispersed particulate constituent of the solution comprising:
• (a1) at least one particulate inorganic compound that is composed of phosphates of polyvalent metal cations at least partially selected from hopeite, phosphophyllite, scholzite and/or hureaulite, and
• (a2) at least one polymeric organic compound that is composed at least partially of styrene and/or an α-olefin having no more than 5 carbon atoms, the at least one polymeric organic compound additionally comprising units of maleic acid, maleic anhydride and/or the imide thereof and the polymeric organic compound additionally comprising polyoxyalkylene units,
• the content of the dispersed particulate constituents of the colloidal aqueous solution being at least 4 g/kg based on the colloidal aqueous solution;
• and
• a zinc phosphate layer having a layer weight of less than 2.0 g/m2 being deposited on the surfaces of zinc in method step (ii).