Effect of granular particles on the properties of the fouling release coatings based on polydimethylsiloxane with the incorporation of phenylmethylsilicone oil, especially for the leaching behavior of phenylmethylsilicone oil

Abstract For polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-phenylmethylsilicone oil (PSO) blend coatings, the leaching of PSO could improve the antifouling performance of the blend coatings. In this study, granular particles reinforced PDMS-PSO blend coatings were investigated, including the surface properties, the mechanical properties, especially the leaching behavior of PSO and the antifouling performance. The results showed that increasing surface roughness of the blend coatings increased the water contact angle of the blend coatings. Yet for fumed silica and nano-silica reinforced blend coaiting, the hydroxyl groups from particles decreased the water contact angle of the blend coatings. The enhancement of the mechanical properties increased the difficulty of leaching PSO, which caused the decrease of biofilm detachment performance. Further, with the increase of the pigment volume concentration (PVC) value, the bulk modulus of the reinforced coating increased which increased the difficulty of leaching PSO in the interior of the reinforced coating by the form of oil storage sac. Under the same content of PSO, the bulk modulus value of the reinforced coatings with different granular particles was the same, when the PVC value was up to PVCM, which was defined as the minimum PVC value without leaching PSO. It also indicated that the effect of granular particles on the leaching behavior of PSO depended mainly on the change in the bulk modulus of the reinforced coatings.