High protective performance coatings assembled by epoxy-modified furfural-acetone containing polyaniline nanowires for mild steel

High performance protective coatings applied under heavy duty condition will lengthen the structure’s service life, decrease maintenance times, economic and human life loss. Here, high protective performance coatings were prepared by dispersing polyaniline (PANI) nanowires into epoxy modified furfural-acetone (EMFA) resin matrix and then cured with phenalkamine. The protective performance of coatings was investigated by immersion experiments in 12% NaCl solution at 90 °C and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The coating containing 1.0% PANI nanowires showed high impedance (>10 10 ohm·cm 2 ) after 80 days immersion, exhibiting great protective performance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) surveys verified the formation of passive layer (Fe 2 O 3 /Fe 3 O 4 ) on steel surface beneath the coating with 1.0% PANI. The bending test suggested that both the pure EMFA coating and the EMFA/PANI coating showed excellent flexibility of 2 mm. Here, measurement of water absorption, adhesion strength, pencil hardness and impact resistance were conducted to evaluate coatings performance.