NANO REACTIVE AND NONREACTIVE POLYMERS AS ASPHALT MODIFIERS FOR ANTICORROSION APPLICATION

Anti-corrosive coatings for carbon steel were formulated using modified asphaltic materials. Nanoparticles of polyaniline (PANI-HCl) were prepared by template free polymerization method and compared with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as a nonreactive polymer. FT-IR proved the formation of polyaniline and XRD demonstrated a relative crystalline structure of the polymer while SEM showed fibrous nano morphology. The two types of modifiers were mixed with asphalt of type 85/25 in different percentages. SEM proved that polymer content of 4%, for both polymers, represented the most homogeneous polymer distribution in the bitumen as the continuous phase. Asphalt modification with LDPE yielded the largest values of softening point and the lowest values of penetration. The ability of modified bitumen samples, to serve as corrosion protective coatings for carbon steel, was examined by open circuit potential-time (Eocp-time) and potentiodynamic polarization in 0.5 M HCl solution. PANI-HCl based coating proved the best protective coating as it had protection efficiency of 99.997 % with corrosion rate 160.3 nm/Y.