The study on the influence of surface cleanness and water soluble salt on corrosion protection of epoxy resin coated carbon steel

The corrosion resistance of epoxy-coated carbon steel was evaluated. The carbon steel surface was subjected to different treatment methods such as steel grit blasting and power tool treatment as well as contamination of water soluble salt. To study the effect of the surface treatments and contamination, the topology of the treated surface was observed by confocal microscopy and a pull-off adhesion test was conducted. The corrosion resistance of the epoxy-coated carbon steel was further examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) combined with immersion test of 3.5 wt% of NaCl solution. Consequently, the surface contamination by sodium chloride with $16mg/m^2$, $48mg/m^2$ and $96mg/m^2$ didn't affect the adhesion strength for current epoxy coated carbon steel and blister and rust were not observed on the surface of epoxy coating contaminated by various concentration of sodium chloride after 20 weeks of immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solutions. In addition, the results of EIS test showed that the epoxy-coated carbon steel treated with steel grit blasting and power tool showed similar corrosion protection performance and surface cleanness such as Sa 3 and Sa 2.5 didn't affect the corrosion protectiveness of epoxy coated carbon steel.