A Comprehensive Study on the Effect of ZnO and ZnAl2O4 Nanoparticles on the Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Coating: Tensile and Hardness

ZnO and ZnAl2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully prepared by the co-precipitation method and characterized by x-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The prepared NPs were incorporated into epoxy (EP) coating with mass ratios 200  800 mg/kg of ZnO NPs/EP and ZnAl2O4 NPs /EP. The prepared coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and their mechanical properties were investigated, at room temperature, after 5, 10, 15, and 20 days of preparation. Tensile tests showed an improvement in the tensile properties, with the best improvement in ultimate tensile strength (93.2%) for 800 mg/kg ZnAl2O4 NPs/EP coating after 15 days of preparation. The ZnO NPs/EP and ZnAl2O4 NPs/EP coatings exhibited noticeable sensitivity to the stretching rate. Vickers microhardness (Hv) investigations showed normal indentation size effect behavior for all the samples. The best improvement in Hv was attained after 5 days of preparation, for all coatings, with the best improvement (9.15%) for 700 mg/kg ZnO NPs/EP.