Enhancement of Surface Coating Characteristics of Epoxy Resin by Dextran: An Electrochemical Approach

This work describes the use of polymer dextran to enhance the corrosion protection of epoxy coating applied on 6061 Al-15%_(v) SiC_(p) composite material (Al-CM). Initially, conditions were established to obtain optimum inhibition efficiency of dextran. Electrochemical techniques such as potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were adopted for the corrosion rate measurements. Later, the same techniques were employed to study the corrosion rate of the epoxy resin coated composite material (EC-CM) before and after the addition of environmentally benign dextran polymer. Detailed investigation of the surface morphology of the coated Al-CM was carried out using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion X-ray analysis, and atomic force microscopy techniques. The work which is done with dual purpose, establishes not only the anticorrosive property of dextran, but also proves its ability to improve the coating characteristics of epoxy resin on Al-CM.