Provided is a chromium-free metal surface treatment agent excellent in
rust inhibitive performance which can be used in a surface treatment of
metal products, in particular, galvanized metal products. The metal
surface treatment agent consists essentially of a siliceous binder
solution comprising water and/or alcohol as a solvent, and the
concentration of the silica component is 8 to 25% by weight. In
particular, a metal surface treatment agent containing an alcoholic
solution of alkoxysilane oligomer having a weight averaged molecular
weight of 1000 to 10000, which is obtained by hydrolyzed condensation
polymerization of alkoxysilane, can suppress the occurrence of white
rusting for a long time. It is preferred that 3 to 25 parts by weight of
a dispersed nano-sized titanium dioxide powder having an average primary
particle size of not more than 70 nm, per 100 parts by weight of the
silica component be suspended in the siliceous binder solution. The rust
inhibitive performance of the metal surface treatment agent can be
further improved by using an alcohol-soluble polyvinyl butyral resin and
by adding a silane coupling agent having a vinyl or epoxy group as a
functional group, in combination with a dispersed nano-sized powder of
titanium dioxide.