Assessing Pretreatment Effect on the Protective Properties of Different Coating Systems Against Marine Corrosion

In this work, five coating systems combining different surface treatments were applied to steel samples and compared with a model system used in civil structures. The corrosion behavior under an aggressive marine environment was evaluated for two years of exposure. An excellent anticorrosive performance was demonstrated for a phosphate conversion coating based surface treatment developed by our research group. The anticorrosive performance of this new protective system is comparable to those provided by abrasive blasting, which entails environmental and economic advantages. These conclusions were supported by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and surface characterization (x-ray diffraction [XRD], Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy [FTIR], scanning electron microscopy [SEM], and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy [EDX]).