Effect on the Surface Anticorrosion and Corrosion Protection Mechanism of Integrated Rust Conversion Coating for Enhanced Corrosion Protection

[Image: see text] Here, a series of integrated rust conversion agents/coatings were synthesized by esterification reaction of 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid (GA) and triethanolamine (TE). The structural features, rust conversion ability, and corrosion resistance of the synthesized rust conversion agents/coatings were analyzed using the Fourier transform infrared tests, scanning electron microscopy tests, X-ray diffraction tests, and electrochemical measurements. It was found that when the mass ratio of TE and GA was 2:1, the synthesized rust conversion agent/coating has best rust conversion ability and anti-corrosion performance (i.e., corrosion current density 7.480 × 10(–7) A/cm(2)). In addition, different from the traditional coatings, the integrated rust conversion coating developed in this study combines the primer and topcoat of traditional coatings into one, which can significantly increase the on-site construction efficiency. Furthermore, a new rust conversion mechanism for the optimized rust conversion agent/coating was proposed. The phenolic hydroxyl functional groups in the rust conversion agent can well chelate with Fe(2+)/Fe(3+) in the original rust layer and then form macromolecular compounds and dense chelating films inside the coating, which tightly wraps rust and also prevents the penetration and diffusion of corrosive medium, making them lose the opportunity to interact with each other.