Studies on corrosion-resistant behavior of siliconized epoxy interpenetrating coatings over mild steel surface by electrochemical methods

Solvent-free siloxane-modified epoxy coatings were developed by the interpenetrating technique using epoxy resin as base (DGEBA, GY 250, Ciba-Geigy) and hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane as modifier (commercially known as silicone) with gamma-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as cross-linker, dibutyltin-dilaurate as catalyst, and 25% zinc powder as additive. Hexamethylenediamine (Aldrich) and polyamidoamine (HY 840, Ciba-Geigy) were used as curatives for the siliconized epoxy coatings containing 25% zinc powder. The corrosion-resistant behavior of these coating systems is assessed by electrochemical methods such as electrochemical potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic methods. Based on the results obtained from the electrochemical potential measurements for epoxy and siliconized epoxy coating systems, few samples, namely AX(4) and BX4, have been found to be the best corrosion-resistant coating systems, and they are used for potentiodynamic polarization measurements, electrochemical impedance, and salt-spray tests. The experimental results reveal that the siloxane (10%) modified epoxy coating system (AX(4)) with 25% zinc powder cured by hexamethylenediamine offers the maximum corrosion protection to the steel surface rather than the polyamidoamine-cured system (BX4). The better protective action offered by the coating system (AX(4)) is mainly imparted by the reaction of aliphatic amine hydrogens with oxirane groups of the epoxy resin, which gives coating films with a high cross-link density. The observation is further supported by a capacitive behavior in the Nyquist plot and no spreading of visible corrosion product in the salt-spray test.