Linseed oil-based alkyd/Cu2O nanocomposite coatings for surface applications

Abstract

An environment-friendly series of linseed-oil (LO)-based alkyd/Cu₂O nanocube nanocomposite coatings was fabricated by a solution-casting method. An easy A₂ + B₃ approach was used to synthesize a hyperbranched polyester using natural and functional monomers. LO alkyd resin with a hyperbranched architecture was developed by the polyesterification of polyester and unsaturated fatty acids of LO. Hyperbranched alkyd polymers offer many advantages, such as reduced viscosity, multifunctional terminals, and absence of gelation. Controlled synthesis of 60–80 nm Cu₂O nanocubes and a cubic morphology was carried out using a wet chemical technique at RT without using any surfactant or template. Different concentrations of single-crystal Cu₂O nanocube fillers bound mainly with {100} facets were incorporated into the as-synthesized LO alkyd resin to investigate the effects of nanofiller dispersion on physicomechanical and anticorrosion properties. The surface nonwettability and salt-fog anticorrosive characteristics of the tailored unfilled and alkyd/Cu₂O nanocube composites were investigated. Different techniques were used to investigate the composites’ thermal and mechanical features. For all experiments, the maximum improvements in mechanical and anticorrosion properties were achieved by increasing the Cu₂O nanofiller loading concentrations up to 0.5%.