Preparation and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and Corrosion Behavior of Epoxy-Clay Nanocomposite

Nanocomposites based on organically modified layered silicates have proven to be an area of research showing explosive growth in the past decade. This has been due in large part to the sizeable property improvements witnessed in several nanocomposite systems by the addition of only a few weight percent loading of the layered silicates [1].The clay layers are on the order of 1 nm thick and have extremely high aspect ratios (e.g. 50–1000), thus a few weight percent clay that are properly distributed throughout the polymer system creates significantly more surface area for polymer–filler interactions than do conventional composites [2].When the nanoparticles are dispersed in the polymer matrix, two types of nanocomposite structures can be obtained [3]. Intercalated nanocomposites are formed when there is limited inclusion of polymer chain between the clay layers with a corresponding small increase in the interlayer spacing of a few nanometers. On the other hand, exfoliated structures are formed when the clay layers are well separated from one another and individually dispersed in the continuous polymer matrix.Recently several studies have been done to improve anticorrosive properties of epoxy coatings such as: modifying formulation of organic epoxy resins through preparation of epoxy–siloxane hybrid binders or preparation of clay/epoxy nanocomposite. In this study epoxy–clay nanocomposites were synthesized and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and corrosion behavior of it were investigated