Superhydrophobic Waterborne Epoxy Composite Coating with Good Mechanical Properties, Icing Resistance, Self-Cleaning Properties, and Corrosion Resistance

Epoxy resins with higher corrosion resistance typically employ environmentally harmful organic solvents such as xylene, while the corrosion resistance of waterborne epoxy resins, which are relatively environmentally friendly, is not as good as that of oil-based epoxy resins. In this study, by coating the surface of waterborne epoxy resin with a superhydrophobic zinc oxide coating, the corrosion resistance of waterborne epoxy resin was enhanced. During the initial immersion, its impedance value can reach 10¹⁰ Ω·cm². The superhydrophobic nature of the coating itself also ensures the surface's resistance to immersion, delaying the intrusion of corrosive media into the coating. Furthermore, this coating exhibits good mechanical properties, self-cleaning performance, anti-icing performance, and so on. The introduction of superhydrophobic surfaces greatly optimizes the performance of traditional waterborne epoxy resin coatings, opening up directions for the metal anticorrosion field of coatings. Meanwhile, during the EIS testing of the superhydrophobic coating, we observed the occurrence of negative impedance in the results. After studying, we speculated that this phenomenon might be related to the degree of wetting of the superhydrophobic coating. Based on this conjecture, we can evaluate the basic properties of the superhydrophobic coating through this phenomenon.