Formation and growth behavior of intermetallic compound phases in the interfacial reaction of solid Fe / liquid Zn at 450 °C

•The interfacial reaction of solid Fe and molten Zn during hot dipping at 450 °C were investigated.•Γ, δ1k, and ζ phases were formed in the early stage, and δ1p and Γ1 phases followed within 900 s.•The total thickness of the entire IMC layers increased proportionally with the square root of the reaction time.•The formation of the metastable δ1k / ζ interface can be attributed to the energy dissipation by the interface migration.•The interfacial compositions gradually approached the equilibrium values with decreasing interdiffusion fluxes.