Evaluation the anti-corrosion behavior, impact resistance, acids and alkali immovability of nonylphenol ethoxylate/TiO2 hybrid epoxy nanocomposite coating applied on the carbon steel surface

Nanocomposite modifiers reinforce the whole characteristics of epoxy coatings for different steel surface applications. To support this concept, sol-gel synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles (TNPs) were mixed with nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPhE) to form nonylphenol ethoxylate/TiO2 nanocomposite (NPhE/TNC) as a modifier for epoxy coating applied on the C-steel surface. TNPs were characterized by XRD, SEM and HR-TEM techniques. Various modified NPhE/TNC epoxy coating formulations with different loading levels (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5%) by weight were prepared. FT-IR spectra were used for characterizing of the formed nanocomposites. The anti-corrosion behavior of surface-modified NPhE/TNC coated films versus unmodified conventional epoxy was studied by salt spray accelerated corrosion test. The obtained results demonstrated a considerable improvement in the rust grade, blistering size and frequency, and adhesion strength of modified NPhE/TNC epoxy nanocomposite coated films and affirmed by SEM morphology survey. The impact resistances of unmodified and modified NPhE/TNC epoxy coatings were measured where the best impact resistance was recorded for NPhE/TENC-E coated film at 51 J. Acids and alkali chemical immersion test was performed to check the chemical immovability for the surface-modified NPhE/TNC coated films against conventional epoxy where NPhE/TENC-E coating showed the suitable immovability levels.