Effect of nanoparticles on the anticorrosion and mechanical properties of epoxy coating

Homogeneous epoxy coatings containing nanoparticles of SiO2, Zn, Fe2O3 and halloysite clay were successfully synthesized on steel substrates by room-temperature curing of a fully mixed epoxy slurry diluted by acetone. The surface morphology and mechanical properties of these coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The effect of incorporating various nanoparticles on the corrosion resistance of epoxy-coated steel was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electrochemical monitoring of the coated steel over 28 days of immersion in both 0.3 wt.% and 3 wt.% NaCl solutions suggested the beneficial role of nanoparticles in significantly improving the corrosion resistance of the coated steel, with the Fe2O3 and halloysite clay nanoparticles being the best. The SiO2 nanoparticles were found to significantly improve the microstructure of the coating matrix and thus enhanced both the anticorrosive performance and Young's modulus of the epoxy coating. In addition to enhancing the coating barrier performance, at least another mechanism was at work to account for the role of the nanoparticles in improving the anticorrosive performance of these epoxy coatings.