Investigation of relationship between microcapsule shell structure, dispersion state and coating performance.

Microcapsules encapsulating functional components have been widely applied in smart coating, but there was little literature about the relationship between the dispersion of embedded microcapsules and the coating performances. In this work, a series of microcapsules with different shell chemical structures were prepared via photo‐polymerization, and the relationship between the microcapsule shell component, the dispersion state in coating system and the coating properties were systematically investigated. The dispersion of microcapsule was investigated by measuring rheological behavior and SEM images. The dispersion of the microcapsules was closely correlated with the similarity between the chemical structure of the microcapsule shell and the coating matrix, and higher structural similarity facilitated a more uniform dispersion state of microcapsules in the coating matrix. The dispersion state of the microcapsules directly affected the physical properties and anticorrosion performance of the coating. The uniform dispersion of microcapsules could minimize the negative impact on the composite coating performance, whereas the agglomerated microcapsules destroyed the compactness of the composite coating, thus heavily impairing the basic properties and anti‐corrosion performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]