Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Progress in Organic Coatings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/porgcoat

Corrosion protection of aluminum foams by cataphoretic deposition of MARK

organic coatings
⁎
S. Rossi , M. Calovi, M. Fedel
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A cataphoretic deposition process is used to realize an organic coating on aluminum foam, in order to increase its
Paints durability. Cataphoresis is recognized to ensure high adhesion properties of the coating and good homogeneity,
Cataphoretic deposition even for surfaces with a complex geometry. The aim of this paper is the optimization of the deposition process
Aluminum foam and the evaluation of the protection properties of the cataphoretic coating deposited on the aluminum foam. The
Acetic salt spray test
characteristics of the obtained coatings are assessed by microscopic observation of the thickness dimensions of
the protective layer and the presence of defects. The corrosion behavior of the painted foam is evaluated by
exposure in acetic acid salt spray chamber and by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. With higher
deposition voltage (300 V), coatings with greater thickness are achieved, containing a minimum presence of
defects. These samples also show good corrosion resistance after 1500 h of exposure in acetic salt spray testing
cabinet. The relatively low level of the coating defectiveness is confirmed by electrochemical impedance
measurements.

1. Introduction
Metal foams are a class of materials developed in the 70s, but still
not fully explored today. These materials combine the good physical,
mechanical, thermal, electric and acoustic properties of the metal of
which they are composed, with the high lightness of a typical foam [1].
Thanks to the combination of these properties, the metal foams are
suitable for being used for several application in the industrial field [2],
from building to the world of transports. Several expedients were
carried out with the purpose of improving certain properties of the
foams [3], but the real problem, for which this class of materials is not
yet widely exploited in the engineering world, is that of corrosion, to
which the same metal foams are subject.
Being produced from a metal matrix, these foams must necessarily
deal with the problems that the normal metals present when exposed in
uncontrolled environments: metal components suffer from different
types of corrosion if the right precautions are not taken. An effective
method of protection for metals is the use of appropriate coatings, of
organic, ceramic or metallic nature. If it is now relatively easy, thanks
to various studies, to protect a metal component, the same cannot be
said about the foam, which irregular surface and high open porosity
make the application of any type of coating very difficult. If produced in
molds, the foams have an outer surface free of porosity, with an
improved corrosion resistance, but with the disadvantages of high
production costs, arising from the use of the molds themselves, and a
low production speed. Today, in order to decrease the production costs,
the foams are realized in large batches, which are subsequently cut, to
obtain panels of different sizes [4]. These panels, however, show a high
level of open surface cells, that promotes certain types of corrosive
phenomena.
Literature reports a few a studies regarding possible strategies for
corrosion protection of the metallic foams. Surface treatments, such as
Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) [5,6], graphene nano-coatings
(with high production costs) [3,7] or ceramic coatings and vitreous
enamel layers [4] have been investigated. However it is not easy to
cover all surface of open cells. The chemical deposition processes
[8–10] could be another solution, but nickel is electrochemically nobler
than other metals, such as aluminum, and in case of defects a critical
galvanic coupling can be generated. Stergioudi et al. investigated the
anodization of Al foams [11] in an attempt to achieve an effective
coating for metal foams and found that it is very difficult to realize a
uniform oxide layer because of the complex surface geometry of the
substrate.
The most diffused metal foams are made of aluminum, because they
are easy to produce, with low cost, have good mechanical properties
and high lightness, and are fully recyclable. Aluminum shows a good
behavior in aggressive environment, but can suffer from particular
forms of corrosion, such as pitting corrosion, in presence of particular

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Stefano.rossi@unitn.it (S. Rossi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2017.04.042
Received 16 February 2017; Received in revised form 23 April 2017; Accepted 25 April 2017
0300-9440/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Rossi et al.
ions, and crevice corrosion, by differentiated aeration [12]. For this
reason it is necessary to provide a protective coating for aluminum
foams, to preserve their physical properties even in aggressive environ-
ments. The cataphoretic deposition is a good technique, suitable to
realize a protective and homogeneous coating, also with complex
geometry, such as the surface of the aluminum foam [13].
Some studies on the cataphoresis treatment have verified the
advantages obtainable with this process, particularly in terms of
adhesion and corrosion resistance [14–17]. Thanks to the promising
results obtained from the different studies and the advantages obtain-
able by this deposition technique, it is chosen for this paper to use
cataphoresis to realize a coating for the aluminum foams, trying to
identify the process parameters that provide better guarantees in terms
of protection of the substrate.
During the deposition process, a negative charge distribution occurs
on the surface of the cathode. This attracts the positive charged resin
molecules present in the bath, whose adhesion to the surface of the
sample is favored by a local pH increase.
The aluminum foam studied in this paper presents close porosity.
Only close to the surface opened porosity is produced during panels
cutting. The influence of the applied voltage value (V) on the properties
of the coating obtained is evaluated. By varying the value of V, the
possible development of defects was observed within the coating, so as
to identify the correct value of V which allows to obtain a protective
layer. The behavior of the samples in the aggressive environment was
then evaluated by accelerated corrosion testing and impedance mea-
surements, to verify the goodness of the coating treatment.
2. Experimental
Aluminum foam supplied by Foamtech (Seoul—Korea) is used as the
substrate. This metal foam shows a concentration of aluminum more
than 97 wt.%, with small amounts of calcium, that increase the
viscosity of the melt aluminum, and titanium, necessary for the foaming
process. This type of metal foam is produced according to the Alphoras
process [18,19].
The appearance of the foam panel has been observed by means of an
optical stereomicroscope Nikon SMZ25, thanks to which it is possible to
obtain a 3D image with the software NIS Elements 4.20. Fig. 1 high-
lights the complexity of the foam surface morphology, showing pores
with diameter variable between 0.5 and 6 mm, with depth that can
reach 3.5 mm. The image helps to understand the difficulties that may
be encountered in coating this kind of structure, which has a very
irregular surface, full of cavities.
2 cm × 7 cm samples were cut with 0.9 cm in thickness. Before the
electrodeposition process, the samples have been pre-treated, in order
to increase the adhesion between cataphoretic coating and aluminum
Fig. 1. Stereoscopic observation of the foam morphology: a) surface morphology and b) 3D image.
145
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
substrate. A ten minutes degreasing in acetone, with the application of
ultrasound stirring, and 40 s pickling in 15 wt.% sodium hydroxide
aqueous solution have been carried out. Both processes have been
followed by a distilled water rinsing, in order to remove the degreasing
and pickling solution traces. Conventional chemical pretreatments were
not carried out to avoid the trapping of solution into opened porosity
with possible risk of corrosion after deposition of paint. An epoxy-based
bath (ARSONKOTE 212 2K BLACK supplied by Arsonsisi, Lainate, Mi,
Italy) has been chosen as the epoxy resin ensures excellent adhesion
level and good mechanical properties of the coating [20]. The deposi-
tion bath shows a pH value of 5.2 and a solid content of 13.3 wt.%. A
circular platinum grid has been used as anode, in order to obtain a
homogeneous electric field, all around the sample.
The most important process parameters in a cataphoretic deposition
are the voltage applied V and the deposition time t. While t has been
maintained constant, with a value of 120 s, four different values of V
have been tested, in order to highlight its influence on the property of
the coating. The used voltage were 150, 200, 250 and 300 V. Below
150 V, coatings show very low thickness, while for voltages higher than
300 V, pinholes rich coatings are obtained (probably due to hydrogen
evolution at the interface with the substrate).
After the deposition, the samples have been subjected to a curing
process, at 180 °C for 20 min, following the supplier’s recommenda-
tions.
During the deposition itself, the current values circulating in the
bath were monitored, thorough the Easy Power Lite software, of the EA
Elektro-Automatik GmbH & Co PSI 8360 current generator, in order to
obtain information about the deposition rate and make some assump-
tions about the dimension of the coatings of the different samples.
The coated samples have been observed by the optical stereomicro-
scope and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM JEOL IT
300) in order to measure the thickness of the coatings and observe the
presence of defects, such as bubbles and not completely coated cells.
For this purpose the incorporating resin has been mixed with a vibrant
purple high-fluidity liquid for two reasons:
• increase the contrast between resin, coating and substrate, facilitat-
ing the observation of the protective layer;
• decrease the viscosity of the resin, allowing it to reach the entire
surface of the sample, even in the deepest cavity.
The samples have been subjected to 6 cycles of mechanical
removing, to be able to also check the variation of thicknesses obtained
within the cavities, as observed in Fig. 2, and monitor the depth of the
treatment.
The behavior of the coated samples in an aggressive environment
has been assessed by exposure in an acetic acid salt spray (AASS)
S. Rossi et al.
Fig. 2. 6 depth levels of observations of the samples.
chamber during 1500 h, comparing the results obtained with the
uncoated sample, following ASTM G85 standard (5 wt.% sodium
chloride solution with a pH of 3.1) [21]. Instead of most used neutral
salt spray test acetic salt spray test was carried out, in order to avoid the
passivation of aluminum surface, typical at neutral pH.
The level of defectiveness of the coatings has been investigated by
means Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements,
using a potentiostat Parstat 2273 with the software PoweSuit
ZSimpWin. The solution for the test is the same used in the acetic salt
spray chamber. A signal of about 15 mV (peak-to-peak) amplitude in
the 105–10−2 Hz frequency range is applied. The measurement were
carried out with a platinum wire as counter electrode and an Ag/AgCl
reference electrode (+207 Vs SHE).
A parallelepiped samples with a nominal surface of 20 cm2 are
considered. Due to the complex porous surface geometry it is not
possible to estimate exactly the actual sample surface and then the
nominal surface area is used.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Deposition current
The current values circulating in the cataphoretic bath have been
collected during the deposition process. Fig. 3 shows the rapid current
decrease at the beginning of the treatment. The initial current values, as
expected, increase with the applied potential value [13,20]. After an
initial decrease, the current reach a plateau value, due to the formation
of the coating, which acts as a resistive element for the system. After
achieving this value, which is similar for all samples, the coating
continues to grow, but with a very low rate. According to literature
Fig. 3. Deposition current values at different voltages.
146
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
[13,20] thicker coatings are expected by applying higher voltage
values.
The 4 samples are then renamed according to the voltage value with
which they have been coated.
3.2. Coating characterization
The different samples have been cut and embedded in the Lam Plan
Cristal epoxy two-component molding resin, in order to carry out
optical microscope observation. Thanks to the addition of the colored
liquid to the resin it was possible to observe 3 types of cells, as shown in
Fig. 4:
a) black colored cells, which represents the coating;
b) light colored cells, with no traces of coating and resin: these are
therefore closed internal cells, opened during the mechanical
removing process;
c) cells with purple coloring, which represents traces of resin: these are
then cells of the surface open porosity, reached by the low-viscosity
resin, but not by the cataphoresis bath during deposition.
Type c) cells highlight the difficulties in coating the foam. Notice
that regardless of the applied voltage it has been not possible to
uniformly coat the entire surface of the aluminum foam.
Table 1 shows that there is no real correlation between depth of
treatment and the thicknesses. It is however evident that, increasing the
voltage applied, higher thicknesses are obtained, as expected during the
monitoring of the currents of deposition.
Despite being homogeneous, the coatings have within them several
defects.
Three are the main types of defects observed in coatings realized by
cathodic deposition:
1. deposition problem;
2. partially or totally uncoated cells;
3. presence of bubbles.
Fig. 5 shows these 3 types of defects, observed in the cataphoretic
coatings.
In some cells uncovered portion of surface have been observed. This
type of problem arises probably from difficulties encountered during
the pickling process, where the solution does not reach the entire
surface of the sample, or because of a driving force not sufficient for the
resin inside of the deposition bath.
This is the principle type of defect observed in samples deposited
with 150 V and 200 V, as shown in Fig. 5a, where a plan surface cell is
shown, with the presence of black coating; the white arrows indicate
the points where the coating has not been deposited and defects are
present.
S. Rossi et al. Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151

Fig. 4. Different types of cells: a) coated cells, b) closed-internal cells, c) open porosity-uncoated cells.

As already noted, the cavities without coating, or only partially
coated, are one of the main problems encountered in trying to realize a
protective layer for the metal foam. All 4 types of samples show this
defect, due to the complex morphology of the substrate, which probably
does not allow the bath to reach the entire surface of the foam. One
example of this problem is shown in Fig. 5b.
The presence of bubbles within the protective layer is a critical
aspect, because it can compromise the properties of the coating itself.
These bubbles nucleated due to the development of moisture within the
coating during the curing treatment. While the samples 150 and 200
have a coating thickness so thin that favors bubbles removal, the
sample 250 instead shows many bubbles which bring the substrate in
direct contact with the aggressive environment, making the coating
anything but protective (Fig. 5c). For the sample 300 this problem does
not arise, as it has a coating of size so high as to completely encompass
the moisture bubbles. It therefore underlines the importance of obtain-
ing a coating with an appropriate size, to prevent this type of defect
may affect the protective properties.
3.3. Acetic salt spray test
Accelerated corrosion testing has been carried out on the investi-
gated samples, together with an uncoated sample as reference. During
the exposure, the appearance of corrosive products has been monitored.
Fig. 6 shows the percentage of surface covered by corrosion
products during the exposure in acetic salt spray test. These percentages
represent the average of the nominal surfaces of 5 samples for the same
V value, covered by corrosion products.
The uncoated sample shows the presence of corrosion products on
the entire surface in a short time (50 h). After 300 h, the 60% of the
nominal surface of the coating-free foam ('nude' sample) is covered by
corrosion products.
The coated samples exhibit a noticeably different behavior. Only
after 500 h traces of corrosion products can be observed on all 4 coated
samples, unlike what shown by the uncoated one. Different acetic acid
salt spray resistance between the sample with a protective layer and a
coating-free one is clearly observed.
The results obtained with this type of test confirm what was
observed with the stereoscopic microscope: the sample 300 offers the
best performance, according to the absence of macroscopic defects,
while the sample 250 shows the lower resistance in the test cabinet,
probably because of the presence of bubbles in the coating.
After 1500 h, the corrosion products have been removed from the
samples with a solution of citric acid (pH = 3), in order to observe at
electronic microscope the point of origin and morphology of corrosive
attacks.
It was possible to observe two main causes for the origin and
development of corrosive attacks: not completely coated cells and the
presence of craters and fractures.
In some cells the absence or the gradual disappearance of coating
can be observed, as shown in Fig. 7. The arrow indicates the presence of
the coating in the lower part of the cell. The coating has a thickness of
about 50 μm but tends to decrease until it disappears at the top of the
image, where the presence of the aluminum substrate is observed. The
cause of this phenomenon is likely to be the presence of air bubbles,
which are trapped during the immersion of the sample in the bath
deposition. A coating detachment is not observed, but simply a gradual
decrease in thickness, as if a bubble had not allowed the resin to adhere
to the substrate.
Fig. 8 shows the presence of a crater (a) and a fracture of the coating
(b). These coating breakdowns are likely to be the origin of the
observed corrosion products and of their development under the

Table 1
Thickness dimensions [μm] of the coatings, for each observation depth levels (see Fig. 2).

Depth Levels

Voltage (V) 0 mm 1 mm 2 mm 3 mm 4 mm 5 mm average

100 18.9 ± 9.3 15.4 ± 5.1 16.5 ± 9.2 17.6 ± 8.3 17.9 ± 8.7 22.9 ± 14.2 18.6 ± 10.1
200 23.2 ± 10.0 21.3 ± 6.8 25.5 ± 11.1 17.4 ± 6.1 22.7 ± 8.8 21.4 ± 8.9 21.7 ± 9.1
250 28.5 ± 11.3 30.1 ± 14.6 24.4 ± 10.8 34.8 ± 25.8 32.3 ± 17.2 33.9 ± 16.2 30.1 ± 16.6
300 77.2 ± 41.4 49.5 ± 40.2 46.4 ± 25.5 56.9 ± 30.1 63.2 ± 55.9 52.2 ± 34.4 56.5 ± 40.1

147
S. Rossi et al.
Fig. 5. Typical defects observed in the samples: a) adhesion problems, b) cell partially
coated and c) presence of bubble (the arrows indicate these points).
protective layer itself.
As observed in Fig. 5, you cannot expect to have been able to get a
homogeneous coating free of defects. The aggressive solution could
reach the surface through small defects of the paint, or due to the
partially coated cells. The corrosion products of aluminum show an
increase of volume that can lead to layer detachment. These corrosion
products, however, have not led to a complete detachment of the
coating, confirming the good adhesion levels obtained with the treat-
ment of cataphoresis.
Despite the presence of these defects, the samples showed almost no
corrosion products during 500 h of exposure in AASS.
148
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
Fig. 6. Surface percentage covered by corrosion products of aluminum.
3.4. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
In Fig. 9 it is shown the Bode plot of the sample 300, after 5 h of
immersion in testing solution. The graph clearly shows the presence of
two time constants, represented by two partially overlapping peaks.
The first time constant (100–101 Hz) is related to the substrate-coating
interface, while the second (102–103 Hz) is representative of the
dissipative phenomena that occur due to the presence of the coating.
Since the 2 peaks are not clearly distinguished, it is expected that the
phenomena that occur inside the coating influence what occurs at the
interface, and vice versa. Due to the complex morphology of the foam
surface, electrochemical impedance measurements have taken into
account the nominal area of the samples. The surface, rich in open
porosity, makes it impossible to accurately calculate the actual area of
the samples, which are associated with full parallelepipeds. These,
during the measurements, are immersed in the test solution, until a
total nominal surface of 20 cm2 is reached. Clearly, using the nominal
area, smaller than the actual area, all the values obtained with the
measurements are underestimated Fig. 10 shows the impedance
modulus values measured at low frequencies (10−2 Hz), comparing
the behavior of the coated samples with that non-coated one. For the
calculation of the impedance modulus, low frequencies values are used,
because they are representative of the system resistive phenomena
[22,23]. To have a comparison value, the coatings are deposited on a
flat aluminum sheets using the same deposition parameters.
Notice that the coated samples exhibit much higher impedance
values of the bare sample, because the protective layer is an important
dissipation element. However, the coating offers much higher impe-
dance modulus values when applied on flat surfaces, confirming the
difficulty encountered in trying to coat complex geometries such as
those of the metal foam. There is indeed a difference in the values of |Z|
between foam samples and the flat surface specimens of about 3–4
orders of magnitude. Usually an organic coating is considered to be
protective when it has |Z| values greater than 106 Ω cm2 [24,25]. In this
case only the sample 300 shows positive values, but must take into
account the fact that the actual surface of the foam samples is greater
than the nominal one, used for the measurements. The real impedance
values may therefore be larger than an order of magnitude.
The EIS data were fitted with an equivalent model, shown in Fig. 11,
made of two time constants. The choice of this type of model is
supported by what observed in the Bode diagrams, which show 2 time
constants. The model itself is representative of the real system, foam
with organic coating, where a time constant is related to the protective
layer, the other to the dissipation phenomena at the interface with the
substrate.
The high-frequencies time constant is related to the organic layer,
and it is made by a resistance (pore resistance) in parallel with a CPE (Q
S. Rossi et al.
Fig. 7. Sample 200 − cell partially covered, with gradual disappearance of the coating.
in the figure). The choice of using a CPE in place of a capacitance was
necessary because of the complexity of the system, which does not
allow to associate the dissipative phenomena to the presence of a pure
capacitance, except in special cases. Having observed partially un-
coated cells, it is expected that the values of these two factors are
influenced by the presence of areas of the substrate in direct contact
with the atmosphere. The second time constant is related to the faradic
reactions on uncovered aluminum, modeled with a resistance and a CPE
[26].
Despite the complexity of the system, the chosen model allows to
obtain a good fitting of experimental data, with acceptable relative
errors.
To check the defectiveness level of the obtained coatings, the values
of the pore resistance Rpore are considered (Fig. 11b).
The graph of Fig. 11 shows a significant decrease in Rpore value
during the first 24 h of testing. This represents an increase of water
absorbance in the coating at the beginning of the test. Again, the sample
300 has the best behavior, with resistance values always higher than
106 Ω cm2. This result confirms what was observed by the microscope,
Fig. 8. Sample 200 − a) craters and b) fractures of the coating observed after 1500 h of acetic salt spray test.
149
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
where the coating of the sample 300 seemed the least defective. The
other 3 types of samples had a much worse behavior, due to the lower
dimension of the coating thickness (150 and 200 V) or because of the
number of defects observed within the coating (250 V).
Rpore is not only representative of the defectiveness of the coating,
but is also influenced by the amount of substrate that has not been
covered by the coating. It is clear that the sample 300, besides being the
less defective, is also the one with the greater percentage of coated
surface.
4. Conclusions
In this work cataphoretic deposition has been investigated as a
potential route to coat aluminum foams. In particular, the effect of the
applied voltage has been assessed. It has been evidenced that it is very
difficult to obtain a uniform coating on the entire surface of aluminum
foam sample. The complex surface morphology of the foam in fact does
not ensure to obtain a coating of the appropriate thickness, especially
inside the cavities on the surface.
S. Rossi et al.
Fig. 9. Bode diagram of the sample 300 after 5 h of immersion.
Fig. 10. Impedance modulus variation in the first 48 h of immersion on foam sample and
sheets (letter following number).
The process of cataphoresis however, seems to be a promising
technique for coating surfaces of this type, as it can get fairly good
results, by acting on the potential value applied during the deposition.
For values of V too low it is possible to obtain a relatively thin coating,
while one must avoid exceeding a too high value of voltage that can
lead to the formation of bubbles for hydrogen evolution during the
Fig. 11. a) Equivalent model and b) the evolution of Pore Resistance.
150
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
deposition. At the same time it is necessary to provide a coating that
allows the easy escape of the bubbles that develop during the curing
process, or that is so thick that incorporate them fully.
The experimental results have revealed that by applying 300 V
during deposition it is possible to obtain a coating with the minimum
presence of defects, and the higher thickness. The development of
corrosion products in the aggressive environment can be observed only
after 500 h of acetic acid salt spray test, while an uncoated sample
shows the presence of corrosion phenomena already in the first 50 h.
Confirming the minor defectiveness of the coating, the sample 300 has
the module of impedance and pore resistance values, measured with
electrochemical measurements, always above 106 Ω cm2. While the
other samples are not coated in an appropriate manner, the sample 300
has a coating that offers good guarantees from the corrosion protection
point of view.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Alberto Bettini (Vaber Industriale, Italy)
and to Sylove Won (Foam Tech Global, Korea), for aluminum foam
materials supply. Thanks also to Gianluca Gazzola and Marzio Marchesi
(Arsonsisi, Italy) for paint bath supply.
S. Rossi et al.
References
[1] M.F. Ashby, A.G. Evans, N.A. Fleck, L.J. Gibson, J.W. Hutchinson, H.N.G. Wadley,
Metal Foams: A Design Guide, Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, MA, 2000.
[2] J. Banhart, Manufacture characterization and application of cellular metals and
metal foam, Prog. Mater. Sci. 46 (2001) 559–632.
[3] A. Antenucci, S. Guarino, V. Tagliaferri, N. Ucciardello, Electrodeposition of
graphene on aluminum open cell metal foams, Mater. Des. 71 (2015) 78–84.
[4] S. Rossi, M. Fedel, L. Da Col, F. Deflorian, S. Petrolli, Coatings to increase the
corrosion behaviour of aluminium foam, Surf. Eng. 33 (2017) 405–409.
[5] N. Movahedi, A. Habibolahzadeh, Effect of plasma electrolytic oxidation treatment
on corrosion behavior of closed-cell Al-A356 alloy foam, Mater. Lett. 164 (2016)
558–561.
[6] J. Liu, X. Zhu, Z. Huang, S. Yu, X. Yang, Characterization and property of microarc
oxidation coatings on open-cell aluminum foams, J. Coat. Technol. Res. 9 (2012)
357–363.
[7] A. Krishnamurthy, V. Gadhamshetty, R. Mukherjee, Z. Chen, W. Ren, H.-M. Cheng,
N. Koratkar, Passivation on microbial corrosion using a graphene coating, Carbon
56 (2013) 45–49.
[8] A. Abdel Aal, M. Shehata Aly, Electroless Ni-Cu-P plating onto open cell stainless
steel foam, Appl. Surf. Sci. 255 (2009) 6652–6655.
[9] J. Liu, X. Zhu, J. Sudagar, F. Gao, P. Feng, Preparation and corrosion resistance of
electroless Ni-P coating on open-cell aluminum foams, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 7
(2012) 5951–5961.
[10] J. Liu, X. Zhu, J. Sudagar, W. Diao, S. Yu, Increased corrosion resistance of closed-
cell aluminum foams by electroless Ni-P coatings, Mater. Trans. 52 (2011)
2282–2284.
[11] F. Stergioudi, K. Vogiatzis, K. Gkrekos, N. Michiailidis, S.M. Skolianos,
Electrochemical corrosion evaluation of pure, carbon-coated and anodized Al
foams, Corros. Sci. 91 (2015) 151–159.
[12] J.R. Davis, Corrosion of Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys, ASM International,
Materials Park, OH, 1999.
[13] C. Zanella, A. Pedrotti, M. Fedel, F. Deflorian, Influence of the electrochemical
behavior of metal substrates on the properties of cataphoretic clearcoat, Prog. Org.
151
Progress in Organic Coatings 109 (2017) 144–151
Coat. 77 (2014) 1987–1992.
[14] E. Almeida, I. Alves, C. Brites, L. Fedrizzi, Cataphoretic and autophoretic auto-
motive primers. A comparative study, Prog. Org. Coat. 46 (2003) 8–20.
[15] F. Deflorian, S. Rossi, S. Prosseda, Improvement of corrosion protection system of
aluminum body bus used in public transportation, Mater. Des. 27 (2006) 758–769.
[16] L. Fedrizzi, F.J. Rodriguez, S. Rossi, F. Deflorian, Corrosion study of industrial
painting cycles for garden fornitures, Prog. Org. Coat. 46 (2003) 62–73.
[17] T. Ramdè, L.G. Ecco, S. Rossi, Visual appearance durability as function of natural
and accelerated ageing of electrophoretic styrene-acryclic coatings: influence of
yellow pigment concentration, Prog. Org. Coat. 103 (2017) 23–32.
[18] http://www.vaber.it. (online, Accessed 15 March 2016).
[19] J. Banhart, Manufacture characterization and application of cellular metals and
metal foams, Prog. Mater. Sci. 46 (2001) 559–632.
[20] M. Bucko, V. Miskovic-Stankovic, J. Rogan, J.B. Bajat, The protective properties of
epoxy coating electrodeposited on Zn-Mn alloy substrate, Prog. Org. Coat. 79
(2015) 8–16.
[21] ASTM G 85-02, Standard Practice for Modified Salt Spray (Fog) Testing, American
Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, US, 2003.
[22] E. Akbarinezhad, H.R. Faridi, Different approaches in evaluating organic paint
coatings with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Surf. Eng. 24 (2008)
280–286.
[23] C. Shivane, P. Puomi, W.J. van Ooij, Environmentally friendly anti-corrosion
primers for hot-dip galvanized (HDG) steel, in: T.S. Surdashan, J.J. Stiglich (Eds.),
Surface Modification Technologies, ASM International, Materials Park, OH,
2006Wien, A..
[24] S. Rossi, F. Deflorian, L. Fontanari, A. Cambruzzi, P. Bonora, Electrochemical
measurements to evaluate the damage due to abrasion on organic protective
system, Prog. Org. Coat. 52 (2005) 288–297.
[25] A. Amirudin, T. Thierry, Application of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to
study the degradation of polymer-coated metals, Prog. Org. Coat. 26 (1995) 1–28.
[26] S.L. Esfahani, Z. Ranjbar, S. Rastegar, An electrochemical and mechanical approach
to the corrosion resistance of cathodic electrocoatings under combined cyclic and
DC polarization conditions, Prog. Org. Coat. 77 (2014) 1264–1270.