Fluoropolymer covalent grafted vinyl ester resin composite coatings for enhancing mechanical properties, water repellency and corrosion resistance

Anti-corrosion coatings for metal protection should have good mechanical properties, water repellency and corrosion resistance to deal with the negative effects caused by external impact and corrosive medium erosion. Herein, a novel vinyl ester resin (VER) composite coating was prepared by covalent grafting of reactive fluoropolymer (PF-HDI) with epoxy resin (E-44), and ring-opening reaction of acrylic acid. The covalent introduction of PF-HDI has a significant effect on comprehensive properties of the coating. 0.4 wt% of PF-HDI not only endow coating excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, including 81.64 % increase in tensile strength (80.94 MPa), 3 orders (42 d) and 6 orders (82 d) of magnitude increase in impedance modulus (>10 10 Ω cm 2 ), but also significantly improve the water repellency compared with pure VER. This work provides an effective strategy for the preparation of high-performance composite coatings with toughening, water repellency and corrosion resistance enhancement suitable for various applications. • A reactive fluoropolymer reinforced composite coating (PF-VERs) was prepared. • The intermolecular hydrogen bonding enhances the mechanical properties of PF-VER. • The water repellency of PF-VER is enhanced due to the migration of fluorine segments. • PF-VER showed excellent corrosion resistance after 115 d of immersion in salt solution.