Influence of electrodeposition potential, TiO2 nanoparticles and chromium (III) inhibitor addition on the corrosion protection performance of organosilane coating on aluminium

In this work, the anticorrosion properties of phenyl trimethoxysilane (PTMS) films coated on aluminium 5000 series alloys were studied. PTMS films were deposited at various cathodic potentials. The optimum electrodeposition potential was found to be −0.8 V vs. SCE. The coatings were also modified by different amounts of nano-TiO2. In order to introduce corrosion inhibition and a self-repair property of the PTMS film, the addition of chromium (III) corrosion inhibitor in the presence of nano-TiO2 was studied. The anticorrosion performance of coatings was investigated in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. At optimum deposition potential, the ‘critical’ nano-TiO2 and Cr(III) contents were both observed, under which the obtained PTMS coatings show the highest anticorrosion performance. The surface morphologies of PTMS coatings were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the coatings deposited at −0.8 V vs. SCE, from 20 ppm of nano-TiO2 and 0.003 M Cr(III) inhibitor present uniform and compact morphologies.