Aluminum pigment encapsulated by in situ copolymerization of styrene and maleic acid

To improve its anticorrosion property, aluminum pigment was encapsulated by in situ copolymerization of styrene (St) and maleic acid (MA). It was found that the conversion of monomers (C), the percentage of grafting (PG) and the grafting efficiency (GE) could attain 92%, 12%, 25%, respectively, when m(BPO)/ m(St + MA) = 10% and m(St + MA)/ m(Al) = 10%. The optimum condition for protection factor was studied according to an orthogonal testing. When m(St + MA)/ m(Al) was 20%, the encapsulated aluminum pigment simultaneously showed good anticorrosion property and luster. FTIR, SEM and particle size analysis indicated that aluminum pigment had been successfully encapsulated with styrene–maleic acid copolymer by in situ copolymerization, which remarkably improved its anticorrosion property and the chelate complex formed between SMA and Al(III) was possibly the actual corrosion inhibitor.