DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SMART POLYMERIC-BASED SELF-HEALING NANOCOMPOSITE COATINGS FOR CORROSION PROTECTION OF CARBON STEEL

Abstract

Corrosion is a major cause of materials and equipment failure in the Oil & Gas industry and accounts for 1/4 to 1/3 of the total downtime, and its prevention is crucial to ensure reliability of the assets. The smart polymeric based coatings address this critical challenge by delivering an innovative and sound concept of autonomous corrosion protection solutions based on multilevel healing strategies for primers applied on piping steel networks exposed to marine environments. The smart polymeric coatings deliver an autonomous corrosion protection solutions based on the release of corrosion inhibitors from smart reservoirs, healing of damages/scratches due to controlled release of healing agents encapsulated in pH carriers and uniformly dispersed in the coating matrix. Towards this direction, this research work explored the advanced and novel approach of synthesizing and modifying the smart carrier with healing agents and reinforcing into polymeric matrix. Three types of polymeric matrixes were explored and studied in this research work that is epoxy, polyolefin, and polyurethane. Their structural, morphological, thermal characteristics, release studies and electrochemical properties are studied in this research work. The release studies suggested the pH sensitive behavior of the smart carriers to release the healing agent. The electrochemical behavior of the smart polymeric coatings demonstrated the excellent barrier properties making these coatings an exciting candidate for industrial application. The novelty of this research work lies in the fact that the synthesis and modification of hybrid carrier and its reinforcement into polymeric matrixes has not yet been reported.