Self-healing coating to prevent corrosion
Jun 27, 2019
Corrosion issues are all too familiar to those in the tribology industry. Corrosion can become such a dangerous and costly problem that there is an entire market of products invented to protect metal. This ongoing threat continues to spark innovators to understand as much as possible about where it develops and how it can be prevented.
Localized corrosion, the accelerated attack of a metal at discrete sites where the protective film has broken down, can be difficult to detect. If left untreated, it can potentially lead to catastrophic failure of a specific machine. Although new techniques are needed to fill this gap, the development of a self-healing coating is one approach to minimize the initiation of localized corrosion. In order to be successful, a self-healing coating must deliver new material to fill cracks through use of a mass transport or delivery system, and without the need for human intervention.
Northwestern University Professor Jiaxing Huang and his research team developed a self-healing coating containing graphene oxide-based microcapsules mixed with silicone oil. This coating can heal small scratches within seconds and has been able to protect aluminum wires under severe conditions for over a year.
Read more about Professor Huang’s innovative solution and the trend toward self-healing coatings in Neil Canter’s recent TLT Tech Beat article.
Why should you care?
Corrosion is a stressor everyone in the industry must consider. Learning alternatives that can prevent localized corrosion will lead R&D teams to develop new chemistries to help fill the need.
