An investigation on the mechanical and corrosion protection properties of poly(arylene ether nitrile) reinforced epoxy coating

Abstract

To follow the current industrial demand, epoxy coatings which feature extraordinary comprehensive properties have been considered as a versatile and promising thermosetting resin for application in various middle and high-end sectors of multitudinous industries. Regrettably, epoxy coatings possess the inherent shortcoming of poor durability to external force and deformation, severely restricting further introjection in various fields. Herein, this study employs poly(arylene ether nitrile) with bisphenol A structure (PENBA) as superior intensifying agent to ameliorate the toughness and corrosion resistance of brittle epoxy coatings. As a linear thermoplastic polymer with satisfying mechanical performances, PENBA serves as epoxy's energy-dissipating medium and forms a semi-interpenetrating polymer network (SIPN) with epoxy matrix, efficiently impeding epoxy's fracture and crack propagation. As a result, the tensile strength, elongation at break, impact strength, and flexural strength of PENBA-modified epoxy possess considerable increments of 214 %, 360 %, 148 %, and 295 % in sequence by contrast with the pristine epoxy. Meanwhile, according to the potentiodynamic polarization analysis, the PENBA with outstanding chemical resistance also significantly promoted the epoxy's corrosion resistance, endowing the epoxy coating with the most positive Ecorr and icorr of −0.453 V and 9.439 × 10−10 A/cm2 when PENBA reached 15 % (mass percent) at the end of entire soaking process.