Development of nano SiO2 incorporated nano zinc phosphate coatings on mild steel

•Nano SiO2 incorporated nano zinc phosphate coating on mild steel was developed.•Coatings showed enhanced corrosion resistance.•The nano SiO2 is adsorbed on mild steel surface and become nucleation sites.•The nano SiO2 accelerates the phosphating process. This paper reports the development of nano SiO2 incorporated nano zinc phosphate coatings on mild steel at low temperature for achieving better corrosion protection. A new formulation of phosphating bath at low temperature with nano SiO2 was attempted to explore the possibilities of development of nano zinc phosphate coatings on mild steel with improved corrosion resistance. The coatings developed were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Electrochemical measurements. Significant variation in the coating weight, morphology and corrosion resistance was observed as nano SiO2 concentrations varied from 0.5–4g/L. The results showed that, the nano SiO2 in the phosphating solution changed the initial potential of the interface between mild steel substrate and phosphating solution and reduce the activation energy of the phosphating process, increase the nucleation sites and yielded zinc phosphate coatings of higher coating weight, greater surface coverage and enhanced corrosion resistance. Better corrosion resistance was observed for coatings derived from phosphating bath containing 1.5g/L nano SiO2. The new formulation reported in the present study was free from Ni or Mn salts and had very low concentration of sodium nitrite (0.4g/L) as accelerator.