Development and Evaluation of the corrosion Protection of Epoxy-Palm kernel shell Ash nanoparticles coating for Mild steel

Abstract

Mild steels are important construction materials in our modern society; hence, it finds application in general purpose engineering as a versatile material. However, steels corrode due to exposure to oxygen and moisture. The protection of steel against corrosion is of importance to the industry as well as Nigeria and the world at large. Corrosion can be controlled or reduced through the use of suitable and locally available materials in production of coatings for Mild steel. Nanoparticles due to their large surface areas have been shown to be excellent materials as they are good absorbents of coating pigments. Palm kernel shells are readily available and easily accessible in Nigeria and they contain calcium which easily combines with epoxy to give compounds resistant to corrosion attack. The effect of the addition of palm kernel shell ash nanoparticles (PKSAnp) in epoxy as a coating for mild steel was studied. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5wt% palm kernel shell ash nanoparticles were added to epoxy. The coating was done using spraying method. Corrosion protection efficiency of 98.62% was obtained for the mild steel when coated with epoxy-5wt%ESAnp. The substrate showed more tendencies to pitting than the coated samples. This study has established that epoxy-5wt%ESAnp have good anti-corrosion properties