Anticorrosion performances of modified polymeric coatings on E32 naval steel in sea water

Polymeric coatings are used to protect metallic surfaces against the corrosion in a marine environment. The novelty of this research consists in the comparative assessment of the corrosion resistance of four types of surfaces: E32 low alloy steel without protective coating, E32 coated with polymeric primer, E32 coated with polymeric primer over which epoxy paint was added and E32 steel coated with polymeric primer mixed with TiO2 nanoparticles. All samples were subjected to corrosion in seawater collected from the Black Sea, Navodari oil terminal. The corrosion properties have been studied by electrochemical methods (evolution in time of the open-circuit potential, polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). The purpose is to improve the protection capabilities of polymeric coatings by adding dispersed inert ceramic nanoparticles as titanium oxide with an average diameter of 200 nm. The results of the electrochemical tests indicate that the nanoparticles of TiO2 mixed in polymeric primer as a nanocomposite coating have significantly improved the anticorrosive performances of E32 steel compared to the E32 steel coated with pure polymeric primer.