Advanced environmentally friendly anticorrosive materials prepared from water-based polyacrylate/Na+-MMT clay nanocomposite latexes

A series of novel advanced environmentally friendly anticorrosive materials have been successfully prepared by effectively dispersing nanolayers of Na+-montmorillonite (Na+-MMT) clay into water-based polyacrylate latex (i.e., vinyl acrylic terpolymers). First of all, a polyacrylate latex was synthesized through co-polymerizing organic monomers of MMA, BMA and styrene (St) using conventional emulsion polymerization technique with SDS, 1-pentanol and KPS as surfactant, co-surfactant and initiator, respectively. Subsequently, the commercial purified hydrophilic Na+-MMT was effectively dispersing into the polyacrylate latex through the direct solution dispersion technique. The as-prepared neat polyacrylate and the series of water-based polyacrylate/Na+-MMT clay nanocomposite (Na+-PCN) materials were subsequently characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, TEM and GPC. The water-based Na+-PCN materials loaded with low content of Na+-MMT when in the form of coating on the cold rolled steel (CRS) coupons was found to be remarkably superior in anticorrosion efficiency over those of neat polyacrylate based on a series of electrochemical measurements of corrosion potential, polarization resistance, corrosion current, and impedance spectroscopy in saline. Effect of material composition on the molecular barrier, optical clarity and thermal stability were also studied by molecular permeability analysis, ultraviolet–visible transmission spectra, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. Organo-PCN materials were also prepared as a control experiment for comparative studies.