EIS study on failure process of two polyurethane composite coatings

The performance of acrylic polyurethane composite coating and aliphatic urethane composite coating in 3.5% NaCl solution under ultra-violet radiation was studied with methods of EIS, SEM and FTIR. For aliphatic polyurethane coating, the coating resistance decreased and the coating capacitance and porosity increased more quickly than acrylic polyurethane coating. The acrylic polyurethane composite coatings showed better performance than aliphatic polyurethane composite coatings. IR spectra showed that under UV irradiation conditions, the failure mechanism of the two polyurethane coatings was the transformation of sec-amide to primary amides. The fractured bonds in acrylic polyurethane were mainly C–O bonds, while in aliphatic polyurethane they were mainly C–N bonds. The lower protection property of aliphatic polyurethane coating may be mainly attributed to the C–N bonds which are more liable to be broken.