Influencing the anticorrosion efficiency of pigments based on zinc ferrite by conductive polymers

Abstract Generally, organic coatings which contain zinc ferrites are able to protect metal substrate, most often low-carbon steel, by inhibition mechanism. Conductive polymers are using a system of conjugated double-bonds to transfer a charge over the chain thereby providing their own electrical conductivity in the organic coatings. The charge from the chain in combination with the iron substrate generates electrons to the formation of passivation products on the surface of paint film. This paper is focused on combination of zinc ferrite with conductive polymer and using of synergic effect of these two components. The organic coatings were formulated from hematite and specularite on pigments concentration line 5, 10, 20 and 25 wt.% for better recognizing of the effectiveness of zinc ferrite component. The content of the conductive polymer was consistently set at 3 wt.% in each organic coating. A solvent-based epoxy-ester resin was used as a binder. The physico-mechanical and corrosion tests were performed for all samples. The corrosion signs were evaluated on the surface of coating and also on the surface of metal substrate. In the end, the efficiency was compared alone zinc ferrite and alone polymers and also their combinations.