Application of EIS and SEM to Study the Corrosion Behaviors of Organic Coatings/Substrate System
Electrochemical corrosion behaviors of two common-used ship coatings——epoxy aluminum coating, chloride rubber iron red coating and their composite coatings immersed in 3.5%NaCl solution were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy combined with open circuit potential measurements and SEM micrograph analysis. Potential-time result indicates that the free corrosion potential of these three coatings with immersion time are more positive than that of metal substrate, which can serve as barrier layer to protect metal substrate from corrosion. During the course of immersion, increasingly negative shift potentials with time reveal the growth of electrochemical area of anode and corrosion takes place continuously. EIS shows that corrosive species can penetrate into coatings and reach the coating/substrate interface promptly, causing the decrease of its shielding role and the beginning of electrochemical corrosion. SEM micrographs suggest that coatings were compact and continuous compared with obviously coarse and loose after corrosion, indicating the penetration of corrosive species destroys cross linkage of coatings. Composite coatings present better protection performance, displaying the effect of “1+1>2” remarkably.