Effect of surface treatment on the protective performance of an eco-friendly silane sol-gel coating

T he effect of temperature of alkaline cleaning of mild steel on the silane coating performance was investigated in this research. The range of 30 to 70oC was chosen to determine the optimum alkaline activation temperature. The data of electrochemical impedance s pectroscopic (EIS) and open cirquit potential (OCP) was monitored to study protective function of the sol-gel film. To provide be tter understanding of the chemical reaction happening on the substrate surface, ICP-OES (Inductively coupled plasma optical e mission spectroscopy) was employed. The electrochemical data revealed that the pretreatment temperature has a significant effect on the hybrid coating performance.