Preparation and characterisation of silica/epoxy hybrid nanocomposite coatings containing boehmite nanoparticles for corrosion protection

Abstract

A hybrid silica/epoxy nanocomposite film containing boehmite nanoparticles has been developed in this work through the sol–gel method to protect AA2024 alloy from corrosion. The hybrid sols were prepared by copolymerisation of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, tetraethylorthosilicate and aluminium isopropoxide. The films were prepared by dip coating technique. The morphology and the structure of the hybrid sol–gel films were studied by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The corrosion protection properties of the films were investigated by potentiodynamic scanning and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results indicate that the presence of the boehmite nanoparticles in hybrid structure of the silica/epoxy films, highly improved the corrosion protection performance of the coating system.