As global environmental concerns continue to overshadow the use of well-established metal surface pretreatment processes such as chromate treatment and phosphatization, the need for environmentally-friendly corrosion protection systems has never been greater. A promising solution to this worldwide regulatory issue is waterborne silane technology, which can offer a heavy metal-free, volatile organic compound-free alternative to protecting metals from corrosion. The mechanism behind this corrosion protection can best be explained by the passivation of a metal surface with a waterborne silane film, which acts as a barrier to water, salts, and other corroding materials in the surrounding environment. Most waterborne silane technology requires high temperature curing procedures for optimal results, which can be difficult to achieve in certain applications or industries. With the use of bipodal silanes, the additional crossiinking introduced into the system can alleviate the need for this high temperature curing procedure, in this novel work, we demonstrate (analytically and experimentally) that the incorporation of a bipodal silane into waterborne silane systems improves the surface passivation of the metai surface, enhances the hydrophobicity of the system, and increases the crossiinking density of the system, leading to significant improvements in the corrosion resistance of waterborne silane technology.
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