Novel Additive-Included Hybrid Sol–Gel Coatings for Practical Corrosion Protection of Carbon Steel in a Saline Medium

Influence of Waste Material Additives on the Performance of a Novel Hybrid Sol-Gel Coating on Mild Steel in 3.5% NaCl Medium

“…Motivated by the excellent literature on mixing hybrid sol-gel coatings with useful additives, [10,12,15] we loaded the hybrid polymer "C" with various waste material additives, deposited them on MS panels, and finally cured them using an optimized curing method (see Section 2.5). The coatings were then subjected to structural, thermal, morphological, corrosion protection, and scratch resistance tests.…”

“…Morphological characteristics of hybrid sol-gel coatings on steel are the features that describe the shape, size, and structure of the hybrid sol-gel coatings on the steel surface. Morphological characteristics can affect the optical, mechanical, chemical, and functional properties of the hybrid sol-gel coatings, such as transparency, adhesion, corrosion resistance, or hydrophobicity [12]. In order to get insight into the hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties of the cured parent hybrid coating "C" and the waste-modified ones, we have analyzed the coating films on steel using the water contact angle (WCA) measurements and the obtained values are depicted in Figure 4 (Representative WCA images of all coated samples are available in Section S2 in the Supplementary Materials).…”

“…Additives can be incorporated into the hybrid sol-gel network to provide corrosion inhibition, antimicrobial activity, superhydrophobicity, or other desired features. Some examples of additives that can be used in hybrid sol-gel coatings are inhibitive pigments [12], nanoparticles [13], bacterial strains [14], organic molecules [15] and inorganic compounds [16]. The functionalization of hybrid sol-gel coatings with additives requires careful selection and optimization of the type, amount, and distribution of the additives, as well as the synthesis and processing conditions of the hybrid sol-gel system [17].…”

“…In particular, the mixing of hybrid sol-gel coatings with waste material additives is a promising way to utilize waste materials and reduce the environmental impact of the coatings. These additives can be incorporated into the hybrid sol-gel network to modify the structure, morphology, or properties of the coatings [12].…”