Coating of aluminum and aluminum/copper with conductive polymers, characterization of coating and investigation of corrosion properties

The aim of this study is, improve the conductivity and corrosion resistance of aluminum. For this purpose, 7075, 6063 and 3102 alloys were chosed, which are the most used aluminum alloys in industry. The electrochemical synthesis of polypyrrole and poly(pyrrole-co-o-anisidine) were achieved on Al surface by cyclic voltammetry technique. Furthermore, bare aluminum surface was chemically coated with copper film, then polymer films were electrochemically synthesized. The thickness, conductivity, characterization, morphology, thermal stability and corrosion behaviors of all coatings were investigated. The quantum theoretical calculations were carried out using density functional theory (DFT) with 6-311++G (d,p) basis set, the experimental details were compared. The results showed that, copper/poly(pyrrole-co-o-anisidine) coating which was synthesized on 7075 Al surface, has the higher conductivity and corrosion protection than the other ones.