Corrosion resistance and lifetime of polyimide-b-polyurea novel copolymer coatings

A novel class of polyurea-b-polyimide (PUI) block copolymer coating containing environmentally friendly aromatic polyurea has been successfully synthesized for corrosion protection of aluminum alloy 2024-T3 (Al 2024-T3). The PUI copolymer is able to self-assemble into a supramacromolecule by means of intra and inter-hydrogen bonds (H-bonds). The formation of H-bonds and effect of the later on the crystallinity of the copolymer was studied by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). It was shown that increasing polyurea mole fraction up to 50 mol%, enhanced occurrence of H-bonding induced self-assembly, and resulted in remarkable enhancement in the degree of crystallinity, and corrosion resistance. Corrosion resistance and diffusivity of the copolymer coatings were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The coating lifetime determined by using time-based corrosion resistance, was shown to be about 8 years for the optimized PUI copolymer coating. PUI coating synthesized by using 50 mol% of polyurea has a high contact angle (110°) and remarkably low surface energy of about 25.5 mJ/m2.