Chapter 2 - Recent developments in smart coatings for steel alloys, their impact in the steel industry, and applications

Abstract

Steel is the most commonly used alloy in the world since it provides exceptional mechanical properties, good corrosion resistance, abundant availability, and low cost-per-unit mass. At the same time it can be tailored to specific mechanical behavior by almost limitless combinations of alloying agents and production procedures. Many methods have been used to protect steel from corrosion, including galvanization, surface coatings, paints, and so forth; however, in the endless process of improving these defenses, smart coatings have been developed to provide active responses from the coating under certain outside stimuli to release certain types of corrosion inhibitors to protect (or automatically heal) the steel substrates from corrosion or other mechanical and physical damages. This chapter presents a brief summary of the most common smart coating approaches for steel alloy protection, their corrosion protection performance, and explains some basic and commonly used processes to apply smart coatings. Finally a brief section will be dedicated to list some recommendations about how this interesting field should be developed in the future to enhance its impact in the steel industry.