TY - JOUR
T1 - Design and development of a novel polymer coating system with exceptional creep resistance
AU - Ameli, Nader
AU - Verma, Jaya
AU - Irungu, Beth Muthoni
AU - Aliasghari, Sepideh
AU - Shishkin, Andrei
AU - Matthews, Allan
AU - Goel FIMMM, Prof Saurav
PY - 2025/6/30
Y1 - 2025/6/30
N2 - Polymer coatings often suffer from poor mechanical properties, including low strength and modulus, making them prone to creep failure under minimal loads. To address these challenges, this study introduces a novel polyurethane (PU) coating reinforced with 4 wt% hollow ceramic microspheres (HCM) coated with a TiO₂ shell (HCM@TiO₂). The modified coating exhibited a 111% increase in nanoindentation hardness, along with significant reductions in creep displacement (31%), indentation creep rate (19%), and creep strain rate sensitivity (28%) compared to the base PU. In contrast, a second additive, solid silica nanospheres with TiO₂ shells (SSN@TiO₂), did not improve mechanical performance and even increased creep displacement by 31%, likely due to polymer chain sliding. Notably, the HCM@TiO₂ coating maintained and even improved its creep resistance under higher loads. These findings suggest that HCM@TiO₂-enhanced coatings could be highly beneficial for applications requiring resistance to high-cycle creep-fatigue failure.
AB - Polymer coatings often suffer from poor mechanical properties, including low strength and modulus, making them prone to creep failure under minimal loads. To address these challenges, this study introduces a novel polyurethane (PU) coating reinforced with 4 wt% hollow ceramic microspheres (HCM) coated with a TiO₂ shell (HCM@TiO₂). The modified coating exhibited a 111% increase in nanoindentation hardness, along with significant reductions in creep displacement (31%), indentation creep rate (19%), and creep strain rate sensitivity (28%) compared to the base PU. In contrast, a second additive, solid silica nanospheres with TiO₂ shells (SSN@TiO₂), did not improve mechanical performance and even increased creep displacement by 31%, likely due to polymer chain sliding. Notably, the HCM@TiO₂ coating maintained and even improved its creep resistance under higher loads. These findings suggest that HCM@TiO₂-enhanced coatings could be highly beneficial for applications requiring resistance to high-cycle creep-fatigue failure.
KW - Creep
KW - Polymer coating
U2 - 10.1038/s44296-025-00063-x
DO - 10.1038/s44296-025-00063-x
M3 - Article
SN - 2948-1775
VL - 3
SP - 21
JO - npj Materials Sustainability
JF - npj Materials Sustainability
IS - 1
M1 - 21
ER -