Hybrid sol-gel coating materials and coatings and methods of forming and using thereof

Abstract

Provided are hybrid sol-gel coating materials and method of synthesizing such materials. Also, provided are methods of forming hybrid sol-gel coatings from such coating materials. In some embodiments, a hybrid sol-gel coating material includes a hydrolyzed inorganic component and organic component. Functional groups of the inorganic component may react with each other in a sol-gel condensation reaction, while functional groups of the organic component may be subjected to free-radical induced polymerization thereby bonding the inorganic and organic components in a resulting hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel coating. The coating material may also comprise nanoparticles, which may be bonded to other components in a resulting coating. The inorganic component may be a silane or, more specifically, tetraethoxysilane, while the organic component may be an acrylate or, more specifically, mercapto functionalized polyester acrylate, aromatic epoxy acrylate, and/or polyurethane acrylate. The hybrid sol-gel coating material may also include a coupling agent, catalyst, and/or diluent.