What if the coating gets scratched?
Naturally we anticipate that during shipping or construction activity there will be some scratching of the Gold Coat surface. Because of the double layer protection, the underlying zinc layer will still provide protection for the base steel. USP has conducted corrosion testing on intentionally scratched samples to investigate its performance. By its nature, zinc has the ability to bridge across exposed areas and provide protection. This performance characteristic works the same way with Gold Coat connectors. However, using products with significant scratches should be avoided.
