Mechanical and Structural Investigation of Zn-MnO<sub>2</sub> Coating on Mildsteel

Failure in manufacturing industries is a worldwide concern and it occurs most often at elevated temperatures and pressure. Acid, gases, and steam are known to be corrosion and stress-induced propagators resulting in incessant catastrophes. More so, material failure can be due to the substrate material used in the coating while substrate failure can further be classified into the substrate morphology, surface chemistry as well as contamination. Thus, the study developed a multifaceted layer of zinc barrier coating via the electrodeposition technique and observe its response by characterizing the developed coating. The mild steel plate, Zn and MnO 2 were procured and characterized according to the ASTM standard. Mild steel of dimension 60×30×2 mm was sectioned and polished using varying sizes of abrasives. The result of the coating thickness showed that Zn-6MnO 2 had a weight gain of 0.30g. Zn-12MnO 2 was observed to have excellent corrosion performance compared to the as-received and the other formulations of Zn-MnO 2 with a corrosion resistance of 2.117 mm/year. The SEM image of Zn-MnO 2 showed aggregates of clustered grains, thus, no possible fracture lines were observed on the coating surface. Zn-12MnO 2 exhibited a hardness value of 252.72 BHN. Additionally, the EDS of the coatings revealed significant elements that helped in the corrosion performance and hardness properties of the coatings. Keywords: Electrodeposition, Corrosion, Zinc barrier coating, Hardness value, EDS analysis