Revelation of Intertwining Organic and Inorganic Fractal Structures in Polymer Coatings

Abstract

X-ray microtomography and serial block face scanning electron microscopy are used to reveal independent clusters of inorganic particles embedded within a polymer. These clusters are interpenetrating, of varying size, and have fractal dimensions that strongly influence transport and structure-property relations. This interpretation forms a baseline for designing hybrid materials for applications in self-healing, drug delivery, and membranes.

Structure and Transport in Coatings from Multiscale Computed Tomography of Coatings—New Perspectives for Eelectrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Modeling?

“…This area has been covered in previous studies and will only be briefly addressed here [1,15] at room temperature. The sample was then allowed to dry prior to X-ray CT examination.…”

“…Recently, the authors reported the presence of clusters of strontium chromate (SrCrO4) particles within an epoxy film which served as a model paint primer [1,2]. It was found that SrCrO4 particles formed intertwined clusters extending laterally in the plane of the film, the largest of which had fractal dimensions around 2.4.…”

“…The X-ray CT studies have also been described before 1 . Briefly, the X-ray CT projection images were acquired at room temperature and ambient pressure at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) BL13W imaging beam-line.…”

“…It was found that SrCrO4 particles formed intertwined clusters extending laterally in the plane of the film, the largest of which had fractal dimensions around 2.4. The leaching of inhibitor from these clusters was complicated and followed a range of behaviours exemplified by the non-linear accumulation (on a log-log plot) of Cr in the leachate solution where a linear accumulation with a gradient of 0.5 would indicate Fickian diffusion [1,[3][4][5].…”

A tutorial introduction to DCM quantitative characterization and modelling of material microstructures using monochromatic multi-energy x-ray CT

“…Setup "Calcite clusters" display color as "One Colour per Data Value"; the channel display should resemble Figure 13(b). Details about clustering analysis and applications are published elsewhere [18][19][20] .…”