Enhanced corrosion protection of cold rolled steel by low-temperature plasma cleaning and plasma polymerization

This study investigates the enhanced corrosion protection of cold rolled steel (CRS) by low-temperature plasma cleaning and plasma polymerization. It is found that the surface treatment on CRS, prior to painting, by a combination of plasma cleaning with argon–hydrogen plasmas and then plasma coating by plasma polymerization with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)–hydrogen plasmas at room temperature (23 °C), can be used for improving the corrosion protection of painted-CRS. The corrosion test demonstrates this improvement, with the mean corrosion creepage of painted-CRS decreasing from 2 mm for untreated CRS to 0.02 mm for CRS pretreated by a combination of Ar–H2 plasma cleaning and TEOS–H2 plasma polymerization at certain plasma conditions after immersion in 3.5% NaCl solution for 10 days. The corrosion protection performance of painted-CRS is highly dependent on the surface characteristics of the CRS and the work of adhesion of paint to CRS.