Metal alloys including high strength aerospace aluminum (Al) alloys are widely used as structural materials in aircraft and related industries. Environmental friendly and acceptable cost effective alternate coatings are the new DoD requirements to inhibit and control the corrosion degradation of these alloys. It has long been suggested that polyaniline may act as rust prevention converter on metal surface but additional efforts are considered necessary to evaluate its performance on Al alloys in real world environment. This motivated us to examine the corrosion inhibition performance of polyaniline modified epoxy primer coatings on Al alloys exposed to aggressive salt-fog environment by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). EIS dielectric coefficient (DC) data have indicated that polyaniline-inhibitor modified epoxy primer coatings provide a superior cathodic protection to Al alloys exposed to humid and salty environment for an extensive period of time. However, test coupons demonstrated formation of extensive blisters and delamination of the protective film within a few days of exposure to highly acidic SO 2 salt-fog spray.
Keywords: corrosion protection, aluminum alloys, ASTM 117 standard method, salt fog chamber, epoxy primer, polyurethane topcoat, polyaniline-inhibitor epoxy dispersion, EIS