Silanized Graphene Oxide/Glass Fiber-Modified Epoxy Composite with Excellent Anti-Corrosion and Mechanical Properties as Offshore Oil Platform Safety Signs

Abstract

Epoxy resin (EP) is a candidate material for offshore oil platform safety signs due to its excellent corrosion resistance property. However, fabricating EP with good anti-corrosion as well as mechanical properties remains a significant challenge. Here, we report a new modification strategy to simultaneously improve the corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of EP by coupling it with KH550 silanized graphene oxide (KGO) and KH550 silanized glass fiber (KGF). KGO and KGF were grafted onto EP to obtain the modified EP material, i.e., KGO/KGF/EP composites and were characterized by FITR, XRD, SEM, and TGA to confirm the successful synthesis of the composites. It is shown that the tensile strength and adhesion strength of KGO/KGF/EP were 85.5 MPa and 16.0 MPa, which are 10.3% and 23.1% higher than KGO/GF/EP. Compared with KGF/EP, the corrosion potential increased by 9.9% and the corrosion rate decreased by 98.8%. Moreover, fluid–structure coupling simulation indicated the maximum stress of the material was within the criteria under extreme wind speeds, demonstrating its great potential for offshore oil platform safety sign applications.