Evaluation of corrosion performance of superhydrophobic PTFE and nanosilica coatings

Mohammad Haji-Savameri; Ahmad Irannejad; Saeid Norouzi-Apourvari; Mahin Schaffie; Abdolhossein Hemmati-Sarapardeh

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-20729-z

Evaluation of corrosion performance of superhydrophobic PTFE and nanosilica coatings

Sci Rep. 2022 Oct 12;12(1):17059. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-20729-z.

Authors

Mohammad Haji-Savameri^{1

2}, Ahmad Irannejad³, Saeid Norouzi-Apourvari⁴, Mahin Schaffie¹, Abdolhossein Hemmati-Sarapardeh^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
² Department of Petroleum Engineering, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Research Center, Shiraz University, Shiraz, 7134851154, Iran.
³ Department of Materials Engineering and Metallurgy, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
⁴ Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran. snorouzi@uk.ac.ir.
⁵ Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran. hemmati@uk.ac.ir.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Continental Shale Hydrocarbon Accumulation and Efficient Development, Ministry of Education, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, 163318, China. hemmati@uk.ac.ir.

Abstract

Corrosion protection of metals is of paramount importance in different sectors of industry. One of the emerging techniques to prevent or reduce the damaging effects of this phenomenon is to apply superhydrophobic coatings on the susceptible surfaces. In this study, corrosion protection of steel is investigated by fabricating superhydrophobic coatings, using one-step electrodeposition process of nanosilica hybrid film and spraying process of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on steel surface and also preparation of micro/nano-composite coatings. The anti-corrosion behavior of the nanosilica hybrid film and PTFE coating with two types of microparticles including Al₂O₃ powder and glass beads in primer layer, and overcoat layer with and without SiO₂ nanoparticles is studied. TOEFL polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests are conducted on coated steel samples to examine their corrosion performance in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution at a temperature of 25 °C. The results showed that the combination of superhydrophobic properties and low conductivity significantly improves the corrosion resistance. Evaluating the effect of adding SiO₂ nanoparticles to the overcoat layer in PTFE coating showed that the nanoparticles improve the corrosion resistance of PTFE coatings by sealing up some defects and pores in the coating. Investigation of corrosion resistance of coatings showed that, the corrosion resistance of nanosilica film is lower than that of PTFE coatings. The best sample obtained in this study, namely the PTFE coating with glass beads microparticles in primer layer and SiO₂ nanoparticles in overcoat layer, reduced the corrosion rate by nearly 80 times.