Effects of incorporated silicone oils on the antifouling and drag reduction of Fe2O3/PDMS coatings

Abstract

To develop an environmentally friendly fouling release coating, the effects of different silicone oils on the antifouling and drag reduction of the coating based polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) reinforced iron oxide (Fe2O3) were investigated. The Fe2O3/PDMS coatings incorporated phenylmethyl silicone oil (PSO), methyl silicone oil (MSO), and a mixture of PSO and MSO were prepared. The surface morphology of the coating and the leaching rate of silicone oil were characterized by CLSM. The mechanical properties, anticorrosion, antifouling, and drag reduction performance of the coating were tested through the stress-strain curves, pull-out test, EIS, bacterial and diatom adhesion experiment, and single turntable torque experiment. Results revealed the leaching rate of PSO was the highest in the air. The hydrophobicity, the surface free energy, the multiple interlayer adhesion strength, the anticorrosion, the resistance to bacterial biofilms and Navicula tenera adhesion, and the drag reduction of the coating with PSO (IO-PSO) were better than those of the coating with MSO (IO-MSO). |Z|1 Hz for the coating IO-PSO immersed for 720 h can still reach the order of 1011 Ω cm2. The maximum drag reduction rate of the coating IO-PSO at 1600 rpm was 3.52 % compared to the epoxy coating.