Plating method

Abstract

There is provided a method and apparatus for plating high strength steel such as advanced high strength steel (AHSS) after irradiating the high strength steel with at least one of laser light and plasma to remove Si/Mn/Al oxides from the surface of the high strength steel, modify the surface of the high strength steel, or make the surface of the high strength steel suitable for a post process such as a zinc plating process. For this, a plating method includes heating high strength steel; treating a surface of the high strength steel with plasma to remove at least one of a Mn oxide, an Al oxide, and an Si oxide formed on the surface of the high strength steel during the heating of the high strength steel; and plating the surface-treated high strength steel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.