SBIR Phase I: Superhydrophobic Zinc Coatings for Anti-Corrosion Applications

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一种超疏水锌涂层，预计该涂层将显示出比现有锌涂层更高的防腐性能。现有的镀锌层容易受潮，防腐性能大大降低。因此，这些涂层通常会额外涂上一层六价铬酸盐，以提高其防腐性能。然而，六价铬是一种人类致癌物质，已被环境法规作为消除的目标。现有的这种材料的替代品以较高的成本提供了较低的性能，因此没有被行业完全接受。在这项工作中将开发的超疏水涂层可以防止水润湿表面。因此，这种涂层有望表现出更高的耐腐蚀性，而不需要额外的六价铬酸盐涂层。因此，这种新涂层代表了用六价铬盐处理的锌涂层的一种环保替代品，并有可能显示出比现有替代品更高的防腐性能。拟议的开发可以在3.7亿美元的美国锌涂层目标市场采用。该项目的智力优势包括基于公司创始人发明的技术开发超疏水锌涂层。现有的大多数超疏水涂层是由非金属材料如聚合物或陶瓷制成的，因此不适用于拟议的应用。当需要金属涂层时，超疏水锌涂层为腐蚀问题提供了一种变革性的解决方案。拟议的第一阶段研究的主要目标是开发一种超疏水锌涂层，它消除了对六价铬酸盐处理的需要。这一发展有望提供与铬酸盐处理的锌涂层相当或更好的防腐性能。超疏水涂层的防腐性能将通过盐雾试验和电化学技术进行评估。此外，还将使用标准磨损试验来研究超疏水锌涂层的耐久性。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop a superhydrophobic zinc coating that is expected to exhibit higher anti-corrosion performance than existing zinc coatings. Existing zinc coatings easily get wet and, consequently, their anti-corrosion performance is significantly reduced. As a result, these coatings are often treated with an additional layer of hexavalent chromate to improve their anti-corrosion performance. However, hexavalent chromium is a human carcinogen, which has been targeted for elimination by environmental regulations. Existing substitutes to this material provide lower performance at a higher cost and thus are not fully accepted in the industry. The superhydrophobic coating to be developed in this effort prevents water from wetting the surface. Therefore, this coating is expected to exhibit higher corrosion resistance without the need for the additional hexavalent chromate coating. This new coating, therefore, represents an eco-friendly replacement for the zinc coating treated with hexavalent chromate, and potentially exhibits higher anti-corrosion performance than existing alternatives. The proposed development can be adopted in the $370 million target market of US zinc coatings. The intellectual merit of this project includes developing superhydrophobic zinc coatings based on the technology invented by the company founders. Most existing superhydrophobic coatings are made of non-metallic materials such as polymers or ceramics, and therefore are not feasible for the proposed application. The superhydrophobic zinc coating provides a transformative solution for the corrosion problem when a metallic coating is required. The main objective of the proposed Phase I research is developing a superhydrophobic zinc coating, which eliminates the need for the hexavalent chromate treatment. This development is expected to provide corrosion protection equivalent, or superior, to that provided by the chromate-treated zinc coatings. The anti-corrosion properties of the superhydrophobic coating will be evaluated using salt spray tests and electrochemical techniques. In addition, durability of the superhydrophobic zinc coating will be investigated using the standard abrasion test.