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

反应堆容器、管道、锅炉和工业管道等钢结构广泛用于石油和天然气工业、发电以及加热和运输流体的制造业。这些结构经常受到侵蚀、腐蚀和结垢的影响。侵蚀和腐蚀是导致频繁的结构修理和维护的退化机制。结垢会降低锅炉和热交换器的传热效率，并增加管道的阻力。在要求苛刻的应用中，例如酸消化容器，聚四氟乙烯（PTFE）[a.k.a.特氟隆]涂料用于钢结构的内侧。PTFE涂层由于其化学惰性和高度双疏性（通用液体排斥性）特性而保护管路。超双疏特性通过阻止PTFE涂层表面上有机和无机沉淀物的成核来防止结垢。PTFE涂层的大规模应用面临的挑战包括成本高、耐磨性低（为软材料）和传热性能差。我们用陶瓷特氟隆涂层的新理念来应对这些挑战。 最近，我们发表了一项初步研究，其中所提出的陶瓷聚四氟乙烯涂层的超双疏特性得到证实。我们的想法是将纳米结构的二氧化钛（TiO 2）与全氟链烷膦酸的保形涂层结合使用。TiO 2是一种陶瓷，非常坚硬，耐腐蚀。TiO 2还具有耐各种酸和碱的化学特性，仅对氢氟酸敏感。全氟有机薄膜使整个涂层具有拒液性。TiO 2的纳米结构化使得能够形成拒液的Cassie-Baxter型润湿状态。因此，本提案的目标是构建、测试和实施陶瓷聚四氟乙烯涂层管道结构，以证明和量化其抗侵蚀、腐蚀、结垢和减少粘滞阻力的能力。因此，我们的应用程序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.