Studies on enhancement of surface durability for steel surface by camphor oil modified epoxy polyamide coating

Epoxy polyamide coatings are generally used to protect mild steel structures from corrosive atmosphere due to their better adhesion over under prepared surface and effective barrier protection. But the coating has the ability to disintegrate due to UV radiation and high humidity condition. To improve the weatherability and chemical resistance performance of epoxy polyamide, there is a need to modify it with suitable cross linking agent. In this work, it has been found that camphor oil at 5 wt.% as the optimum level to protect the mild steel structures from corrosive electrolyte. Further the impedance study has shown that the resistance exerted by the Camphor oil incorporated coating in 0.5 M NaCl solution after 60 days is 3 × 10⁷ Ω cm² where as the resistance of the coating without this modifier is 3 × 10⁶ Ω cm². The FTIR spectral study indicates that the formation of ether linkages in the dried film and also the other functional groups present in the epoxy polyamide polymer is completely disappeared in the modified coating. Similarly the TG and DTA analysis showed that considerable shift in the degradation temperature has been noticed for the polymer coating with modifier.