Self-Healing Corrosion Protective Sol-Gel Coatings

Abstract

Inspired by the state of the art and the recent advances in the field of self-healing corrosion protective coatings, the thesis entitled “Self-healing corrosion protective sol-gel coatings” addresses novel routes to self-healing corrosion protective sol-gel coatings via extrinsic and intrinsic healing approaches. The employed approaches aim at extending the service life of the coating and the underlying substrate by multiple damage closure/sealing and metal surface protection through incorporation of reversible tetrasulfide groups and inhibitor loaded containers respectively. Intrinsically healable hybrid organic-inorganic coatings containing reversible tetrasulfide groups were successfully developed and investigated using a combination of characterization techniques to address their healing kinetics and mechanism. Extrinsic healing concept was studied by encapsulation of corrosion inhibitors in smart micro- / nano-containers capable of on-demand leach out of the inhibitors to the damage site. Both routes explored have the potential to lead to future commercial self-healing coating systems.