Self-repairing and anti-fouling performance of anticorrosive coating in marine environment
Xiao Wu, Chao Yang, Lingli Wu, Chuchu Zhang, Gan Cui, Yanping Xin
Abstract
Microcrack damage repair and microbial contamination prevention are two major challenges for anti-corrosion coatings on the surfaces of underwater installations. In this study, water-triggered self-healing microcapsules were combined with low-surface-energy fluoropolymers to prepare a bifunctional anti-corrosion coating with underwater self-healing and bio-fouling properties. The results showed that the prepared microcapsules had good mechanical, thermal, and environmental stability, with an average diameter of 153 μm and an encapsulation rate of 66.7%. When the microcapsule content in the coating was 8 wt%, the microcapsule dispersion performance and healing barrier effect of the composite coating were optimal, and the repair efficiency reached 81.6%. Furthermore, compared with the coating without microcapsules or graft fluoropolymers (PFG), the sample denoted as PFG18/4/IPDI-MC/ER showed the largest surface water contact angle and had the best protein inhibition rate of 87% when using bovine hemoglobin to detect the protein adsorption concentration on the coating surface.