Grantee Research Project Results

Metal corrosions have caused serious monetary losses to global economies. Existing anticorrosion coating technologies rely heavily on fast-depleting petroleum-based chemicals. Meanwhile, the volatile organic solvents employed during the coating manufacturing procedures and the resulted non-degradable and/or toxic polymer wastes have caused increasing concerns over both health and the environment. To address this challenge, the objective of this project is to design and synthesize sustainable and green smart anticorrosive coating systems with self-healing and feed-back properties using linseed oil (LO) monomers that are benign and abundant in nature as the raw materials.

In the project, LO monomers will serve as the polymerizable healing core materials as well as the coating matrixes and microcontainers. The microcapsules containing LO monomers will then be dispersed in the coating matrix to obtain the smart coating system. An excellent compatibility between the coating matrix and the microcapsules are expected considering the chemical bonds formed between the functional groups of the former and the latter. This will ensure a uniform distribution of the microcapsules in the coating matrix and good mechanical strength of the coating. An approaching crack ruptures microcapsules embedded in the coating matrix, releasing the healing agent of LO monomers into the crack plane through capillary action. Oxidative polymerization of LO monomers will be triggered by contact with atmospheric oxygen and the cracks will be filled by the resulting polymer films. The damage induced triggering mechanism will provide site-specific autonomic control of repair.

The smart coating system with four types of coating matrixes will be achieved. The coating systems are envisioned to provide industries with non-toxic, biodegradable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective smart coatings for a sustainable development. This project will minimize hazardous chemicals released to the environment by the selection of benign and sustainable raw materials and appropriate manufacturing procedures. Meanwhile, the bio-degradability of the ecofriendly polymeric coating systems will reduce marine pollution and air pollution caused by non-degradable polymer wastes and the incinerating of the wastes.