Physical Aging Mechanism of Epoxy Coating by Hygrothermal Cycling Test

Abstract

The anticorrosive performance of epoxy coating was examined by using the hygrothermal cyclic test and the degradation mechanism of the coating was investigated by using the AC impedance method. The relationship between the results obtained from different tests was studied. It was revealed that the hygrothermal cyclic test can be used as an effective acceleration test for the degradation of organic coating. It was also found in hygrothermal cyclic test that the epoxy coatings have the resistance to stresses at some extent. The degradation of organic coating seems to be caused by the decrease of resistance of coating and the increase of both capacitance and free volume in the organic coating.