Assessment of the smart self-healing corrosion protection properties of a water-base hybrid organo-silane film combined with non-toxic organic/inorganic environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors on mild steel

Abstract Combining silane formulation with appropriate non-toxic chrome-free corrosion inhibitors provides high performance coatings with superior anti-corrosion properties. The aim of this work is development of an environmentally friendly sol-gel based silane coating with smart self-healing corrosion resistance properties utilizing the mixture of organic-benzimidazole/inorganic-praseodymium inhibitors. Results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), electrochemical noise (EN), scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET), potentiodynamic polarization, and salt spray tests declared the effective self-healing characteristics of the coating incorporated with the mixture of inhibitors. The healing capability of the modified coatings was demonstrated by SVET. The current distribution results indicated that both anodic and cathodic inhibition occur at the scratched area with a dominant effect on the cathodic zones.