Anti-corrosion performance of pigment-free epoxy novolac/reduced graphene oxide composite coatings

Functional or smart coatings (organic, inorganic, or hybrid) are formed by materials that can be adapted for many applications where they should be able to perform a well-defined set of functions, such as improving chemical, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties of the substrate. This project studied the anticorrosive efficiency of nanoaditivated pigment-free epoxy coating by the addition of rGOL in the contents of 0.1 and 0.5 wt%. XRD, AFM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopies were employed to obtain relevant information on the molecular structure and interaction between epoxy resin and rGOL. Thermogravimetry results did not indicate a significant change in polymer matrix T-g. This could be related to an incomplete curing process of the resin and/or the presence of defects in the rGOL sample. All the corrosion tests results indicated that the rGOL addition promotes improvements to the epoxy corrosion resistance reached by a barrier mechanism.