**Particle Characterisation and Depletion of Li2CO3 Inhibitor in a Polyurethane Coating**

**Anthony Hughes 1,2,\*, James Laird 1, Chris Ryan 1, Peter Visser 3,4, Herman Terryn 3,5 and Arjan Mol <sup>3</sup>**


Received: 30 May 2017; Accepted: 14 July 2017; Published: 21 July 2017

**Abstract:** The distribution and chemical composition of inorganic components of a corrosion-inhibiting primer based on polyurethane is determined using a range of characterisation techniques. The primer consists of a Li2CO3 inhibitor phase, along with other inorganic phases including TiO2, BaSO4 and Mg-(hydr)oxide. The characterisation techniques included particle induced X-ray and γ-ray emission spectroscopies (PIXE and PIGE, respectively) on a nuclear microprobe, as well as SEM/EDS hyperspectral mapping. Of the techniques used, only PIGE was able to directly map the Li distribution, although the distribution of Li2CO3 particles could be inferred from SEM through using backscatter contrast and EDS. Characterisation was also performed on a primer coating that had undergone leaching in a neutral salt spray test for 500 h. Overall, it was found that Li2CO3 leaching resulted in a uniform depletion zone near the surface, but also much deeper local depletion, which is thought to be due to the dissolution of clusters of Li2CO3 particles that were connected to the external surface/electrolyte interface.

**Keywords:** primer; Li-inhibited; AA2024; polyurethane; SEM; EDS; PIXE; PIGE; leaching; pigments
