To promote the anticorrosion performance of epoxy/zinc (EP/Zn) coating, graphene oxide (GO) was directly incorporated into dual-component paint. Interestingly, it was found that the method of incorporating GO during the fabrication of the composite paints strongly influenced their performance. The samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicated that GO could be intercalated and modified with the polyamide curing agent while preparing component B of the paint, for which the interlayer spacing of the resulting polyamide modified GO (PGO) increased, and its dispersion in organic solvent was improved. The corrosion resistance of the coatings was studied through potentiodynamic polarization testing, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and immersion testing. Among the three types of as-prepared coatings, i.e., neat EP/Zn coating, GO modified EP/Zn coating (GO/EP/Zn), and PGO-modified EP/Zn coating (PGO/EP/Zn), the order of the corrosion resistance of the coatings was PGO/EP/Zn > GO/EP/Zn > neat EP/Zn. This work demonstrates that although the in situ modification of GO with a curing agent is a simple method, it evidently promotes the shielding effect of the coating and enhances its corrosion resistance.
Keywords: carbon steel; corrosion resistance; epoxy-zinc coating; graphene oxide; intercalation; surface modification.