A fluorine-free superhydrophobic PPS composite coating with high thermal stability, wear resistance, corrosion resistance

Abstract

Abstract A simple spraying method was used for fabricating stability and wear-resistance fluorine-free superhydrophobic coatings by introducing the silicone rubber (SR) particles and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) matrix. When the weight content of PPS:SR:CNTs = 0.7:0.3:0.015, the water contact angle (WCA) and the slide angle (SA) of the prepared coating were (164 ± 1.5)° and (1 ± 0.8)°, respectively. The WCA of the prepared coating also possessed good durability, which could maintain (141 ± 1)° after 10,000 times of abrasion. It was mainly ascribed to the internal micro/nano-structure designed by combining SR particles with CNTs and low surface free energy groups Si-CH3 of SR. Moreover, the prepared coating exhibited excellent wear resistance, which was 2 times higher than pure PPS coating. The adhesive ability of the prepared coating corresponded with Grade 4 according to ASTM D3359 due to the synergy of SR particles and CNTs. The test results of thermogravimetric (TG) indicated the outstanding thermal stability of the prepared coating with weight loss less than 10% under 478 °C. Furthermore, the corrosion resistance of the aluminum could be effectively enhanced by the prepared superhydrophobic coating with performance of higher corrosion potential −756.69 mV and lower corrosion current 4.97 × 10−8 A/m2 after 15 days immersion in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Therefore, it is believed that the prepared coating with excellent thermal-stability, wear-resistance and corrosion-resistance might have a huge potential in large-scale industrial application.