Effect of nano powders on the surface and adhesion properties of epoxy and polyester-based polymeric coatings

In this research, different polymeric nanocoatings were prepared from two main materials: epoxy (Ep) and unsaturated polyester (UPE) by adding 1% and 4% weight fractions of nanoparticles of TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and clay. The resulting materials were applied as coatings on different surfaces (glass, polyacrylic, aluminium, and galvanized steel). Shore D hardness, adhesion, and contact angle were measured to assess the properties of the resulting coatings. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the microscopic features. The results showed that the addition of nanoparticles led to an increase in hardness value at (4%) weight ratio, with the highest value (76.1) for polyester reinforced with TiO 2 , while the highest adhesion was noticed with epoxy reinforced with 1% wt. nanoclay, with a value of 377.165. Contact angle measurement showed that it is directly proportional to the weight fraction of the added nanoparticles and that the epoxy had higher contact angles than polyester for the same reinforcements and weight fractions.