Wear, thermal, corrosion, and physical properties of novel UV-cured nanocomposite hybrid coatings with fluorine-containing silica networks

This paper presents novel organic–inorganic (hybrid) nanocomposite coatings (EASFs) containing a diamino diphenyl sulfone (DDS)-based structure with fluorine chains and SiO₂ networks. To obtain these nanocomposites, a diamino diphenyl sulfone (DDS)-based structure (SFDDS) containing silane terminated fluorine chains was synthesized. This structure was converted to a novel precursor (SFDDS precursor) by adding hydrolyzed tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and trimethylsiloxy propyl methacrylate (MEMO) by the sol–gel method. This way, SFDDS precursor was obtained and incorporated into a mixture of epoxy acrylate and 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate reactive resin system in the range of 2.5–15%. The prepared solutions were spread onto low-carbon steel with a 75 μm wire-wound applicator instrument and cured by UV light. These coating samples were characterized in terms of their thermal, wear, physical, and corrosion properties. Considering physical properties, while hydrophobicity and scratch resistance presented substantial increases, adhesion and brightness properties decreased. The adhesion properties of EASF10 and EASF12.5 were fairly good, but their wear resistance values showed decreases at these adhesion levels. Glass transition temperatures increased with an increase in the SFDDS precursor content. This situation showed that these novel hybrid nanocomposite coatings could have higher thermo-mechanical properties. Besides these results, the corrosion resistance values of these novel hybrid nanocomposite coating materials were noteworthy. While the corrosion resistance results of these novel coatings were enhanced substantially in the air atmosphere, the NaCl atmosphere adversely affected corrosion resistance.

Graphical Abstract