Development of zinc-rich organic coatings by incorporation of green and sustainable ionic liquids for steel protection

Epoxy coatings are one of the most used coatings for steel corrosion protection. However, this type of organic coatings is used with incorporation with different materials to enhance some selected properties. For example, zinc is added to epoxy coatings to enhance cathodic protection and barrier effect of the organic coating. On the other hand, some pigments like graphene and mica were added to increase the barrier properties of such coatings. Other examples include incorporating corrosion inhibitors into epoxy coatings in purpose to leach from the coating matrix and protect the steel substrate. Ionic liquids have attracted massive interest due to their properties. Some literature have explored the efficiency of ionic liquids as corrosion inhibitors. On the other hand, zinc-rich epoxy have been explored thoroughly in the literature and their improvement is one of the most studied in anti-corrosion coating research. Here, we intended to explore the addition of different ionic liquids to epoxy coatings, with and without zinc, to investigate the effect on the anti-corrosion performance and mechanical properties of the coating matrix.