Nanostructured silicon sol-gel surface treatments for Al 2024-T3 protection

Current coatings for aircraft corrosion protection are based on chromate su rface treatments, primers, and topcoats. One approach to developing a chrom ate-free surface treatment is through the use of sol-gel materials that int eract strongly with both the substrate and the subsequent polymer layers. R esults are reported here on a new sol-gel technique using a pre-forming, se lf-assembled, non-phase particle (SNAP) sol-gel system. SNAP films have bee n investigated by infrared spectroscopy atomic force microscopy, and electr ochemical methods. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedan ce spectroscopy demonstrated that the SNAP system generates high quality de fect-free, durable films. Formulation parameters, including crosslink densi ty and coupling agent application, were optimized based on experimental res ults.