A waterborne coating system for constructing inorganic-organic composite anti-corrosion and wear-resistant coating

In the fields of engineering and materials science, enhancing the corrosion resistance of engineered metal materials is extremely important. Most common anti-corrosion coatings often lack the capacity to resist external damages, which can lead to a failure in the coating's physical shielding effect. In this study, we have developed an all-water-based, simple one-step spray method for preparing a modified phosphate-based organic-inorganic composite coating , designated as AP-S30@Al 2 O 3 @PTFE. The nanofillers of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) were dispersed into inorganic binder aluminum phosphate (AP) modified by silica sol (S30). The effects of the incorporation of S30 and Al 2 O 3 as the second hard phase on their wettability , mechanical properties, microscopic morphology, abrasion resistance, and corrosion resistance of the composite coatings were investigated. The results showed that the AP-S30@Al 2 O 3 @PTFE coating significantly improved the corrosion resistance of the metal, with the open current density decreasing from 2.285×10 −5 to 1.653×10 −7 mA·cm −2 , and the open potential decreasing from −0.7533 to −0.2577 V. In addition, the composite coating provides a significant improvement in wear resistance. Thus, this cost-effective and eco-friendly method may offer significant contributions to the design and fabrication of strategic composite coatings, advancing their practical deployment in the protection of metal surfaces.