Nanostructured ceramic coatings engineered for reduction of corrosion, erosion, fouling and viscous drag in industrial pipes and tubes

钢结构，如反应堆容器、管道、锅炉和工业管道，在石油和天然气工业、发电以及加热和输送流体的制造中大量使用。这些结构经常受到冲刷、腐蚀和结垢的影响。冲刷和腐蚀是导致结构频繁修复和维护的退化机制。结垢降低了锅炉和换热器的换热效率，增加了管道阻力。在酸消化容器等苛刻的应用中，聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)[也称为特氟龙]涂层用于钢结构的内侧。聚四氟乙烯涂层由于其化学惰性和高度的两亲性(通用液体驱避剂)而保护管道。超疏水特性通过阻止有机和无机沉淀物在聚四氟乙烯涂层表面的成核来防止污垢。聚四氟乙烯涂层大规模应用面临的挑战包括成本高、耐磨性差(作为一种软质材料)和较差的传热性能。我们用我们的特氟龙陶瓷涂料的新理念来应对这些挑战。 最近，我们发表了一项初步研究，证实了所提出的陶瓷聚四氟乙烯涂层的超两亲特性。我们的想法是使用纳米二氧化钛(二氧化钛)与超薄的全氟化烷基膦酸类共形涂层相结合。二氧化钛是一种陶瓷，非常坚硬，耐腐蚀。二氧化钛在化学上也耐广泛的酸和碱，只对氢氟酸敏感。全氟有机薄膜使整个涂层具有液体排斥性。二氧化钛的纳米结构使其能够形成拒液的Cassie-Baxter类型的润湿态。因此，本提案的目标是建造、测试和实施陶瓷聚四氟乙烯涂层管道结构，以展示和量化其抗冲刷、腐蚀、结垢和减少粘性阻力的能力。因此，我们的应用具有很强的基础研究成分，同时也具有直接的商业意义。

Steel structures such as reactor vessels, pipelines, boilers and industrial tubing are heavily used in the oil and gas industry, power generation, and in manufacturing for heating & transporting fluids. These structures are often subjected to erosion, corrosion and fouling effects. Erosion and corrosion are degradation mechanisms which result in frequent structural repair and maintenance. Scale formation lowers heat transfer efficiency in boilers & heat exchangers, and increases drag in pipelines. In demanding applications such as acid digestion vessels, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [a.k.a. TEFLON] coating is used on the inner side of the steel structure. PTFE coating protects tubing due to its chemical inertness, and through its highly amphiphobic (universal liquid repellent) property. The super-amphiphobic characteristic prevents fouling by discouraging the nucleation of organic and inorganic precipitates on PTFE-coated surfaces. The challenges facing the large-scale application of PTFE coatings include its high cost, low wear-resistance (being a soft material), and its poor heat transfer property. We address these challenges with our new idea of Ceramic Teflon coatings. Recently, we published a preliminary study where the super-amphiphobic characteristic of the proposed Ceramic Teflon coating was confirmed. Our idea here consists of using nanostructured Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) in combination with ultrathin conformal coatings of perfluorinated alkanephosphonic acids. TiO2 being a ceramic, is very hard and resists erosion. TiO2 is also chemically resistant to a broad spectrum of acids and bases, being vulnerable only to hydrofluoric acid. The perfluorinated organic thin film makes the overall coating liquid repellent. The nanostructuring of the TiO2 enables liquid-repellent Cassie-Baxter-type wetting states to form. The objectives of this proposal are therefore to build, test and implement Ceramic Teflon coated pipe structures in order to demonstrate and quantify their abilities to resist erosion, corrosion, fouling and reduce viscous drag. Thus, our application has a strong fundamental research component while also being of immediate commercial significance.