Abstract
The effectiveness of novel hybrid ceramic-polymer or ceramer coatings (i.e., HCLCoat11 and HCLCoat13) developed in the Hawaii Corrosion Laboratory (HCL) on aluminum substrates will be examined. The coating was developed on an Army funded project, and is currently being examined on other DoD projects for applications in the Air Force, Navy, and Army. This study will elucidate the corrosion initiation mechanisms on coated aluminum alloy substrates, as well as determine the corrosion performance of the coated substrates in marine environments. If the coatings are effective, they may be of utility for aluminum heat exchanges in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power plants. The coatings are approximately 2 – 10 microns thick, and have shown promise as corrosion barriers in atmospheric and accelerated corrosion tests (i.e., ASTM B117). The corrosion protection results of the ceramer coatings were comparable to that of Alodine 1201-treated coupons (considered an industrial standard). The utility of the ceramer coatings under immersion conditions will be explored in this program. Preliminary tests have shown that the dense ceramic-polymer coatings also have antifouling characteristics and resists de-lamination due to covalent bonding with the aluminum substrate. The thinness of the ceramic-polymer coatings may make them suitable for heat-exchanger applications.