A Novel Basalt Flake Epoxy Resin Coating Modified by Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

As a new type of anticorrosive material, basalt flakes (BFs) have been widely used in the marine industry due to their good acid and alkali corrosion resistance and dispersion stability. In this work, the effect of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) addition on properties improvement of basalt flake epoxy resin (CNT-BF/EP) coating was studied. Firstly, 0–0.7 wt.% acidified CNTs was used to modify the surface of the BFs and the CNT-BF/EP coating was successfully prepared. Experimental results showed that the performance of the interfacial compatibility, the tensile strength, and acid and alkali resistance of the CNT-BF/EP coating were significantly improved with the addition of the CNTs. Particularly, the CNT-BF/EP coating achieved the best comprehensive properties (tensile strength increased to 30.3 MPa, surface weight loss rate of only 1.0 wt.% in the acid environment for 480 h, and water absorption of only 1.1 wt.% after 480 h) when the CNTs addition reached 0.5 wt.%. This work suggests a feasible way to enhance the mechanical properties and chemical durability of the basalt flakes coating.