Thermal stability and corrosion resistance of polysiloxane coatings on 2024-T3 and 6061-T6 aluminum alloy

Hybrid coatings based on polydimethylsiloxane-cured organically modified silicate were synthesized through a sol–gel technique. Amino-terminated siloxane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane were used as precursors for the hybrid coatings. These hybrid films were deposited via spin coating onto an aluminum alloy to improve the corrosion protection. The effects induced by the different molar ratio of silane on the chain dynamics, thermal stability and corrosion performance of the coated samples were investigated. The rotating-frame spin-lattice relaxation times and scale of the spin-diffusion path length indicated that the configuration of the hybrid films was highly crosslinked and dense. The thermal stability and the apparent activation energy, evaluated by van Krevelen's method, of the hybrid coatings depended on the molar ratio of silane. Potentiodynamic analysis revealed that the hybrid films provided good barrier and corrosion protection in comparison with untreated aluminum alloy substrates.