Environmental studies of smart/self-healing coating system for steel

Smart/self-healing micro-capsulated inhibitor incorporated in epoxy primer before painting on a steel surface was evaluated for its corrosion protection effectiveness on exposure to ASTM D 5894 electrolyte in laboratory and natural tropical sea-shore environment. The “healant” inhibitor was industrial custom-made and non-chromate organic-based microcapsules which were mixed into the primer before applying a polyurethane topcoat layer on steel surface. The results indicate that the active components in ruptured embedded inhibitor microcapsules were released into an inflicted scribe primer and topcoat film on steel surface on exposure to inhibit development of an electrochemical cell. Undamaged surface film of the test and control specimens exposed in the environments demonstrated excellent corrosion-inhibition performance as reflected by both visual inspection and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experimental data. The results obtained on the performance of self-healing inhibitors should provide an understanding of the fundamental material-property relationships of smart inhibitor coatings. And, thus, should facilitate the development of optimized paint compositions in order to extend the useful service life of steel-infrastructure applications.