Morphology and characterization study on effective microorganism (EM) water based epoxy coatings

• Published in: Materials Today: Proceedings
• Main Author: Onn M.; Ahmad Z.; Zainuddin A.; Mohammad Iliyas S.M.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85132219406&doi=10.1016%2fj.matpr.2022.05.334&partnerID=40&md5=0285c3498985ddfb0383ce8fc161bb1e

Water based polymeric epoxy coating is an important material in providing protection against extreme weather condition. Crack and fungus formation are natural phenomenon when coating surface is exposed to extreme weather and normally related to the durability of the coating. It is essentially a coating layer that shields the material from harmful conditions. In this research, Effective Microorganism (EM) was used as an additive in the coating formulation. The EM loading was added in 4 different ratios which are 0, 2, 4 and 6% and applied on concrete and asbestos substrate. The cured coating was characterized using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), hardness, pH, chemical resistance, viscosity, pH and adhesion. From the TGA graph result, 2% EM loading is capable to remove the volatile matter and has delayed the degradation temperature up to almost 30 °C compared to control formulations. The hardness and viscosity are slightly affected by EM loading. Meanwhile for pH and adhesion on substrate is reduced with the increasing loading on EM additives. Water absorption test depicted that EM reduces the water uptake up to 4% loading but the chemical resistance depicted best result at only 2% loading. Lastly, for morphology study, exposure to natural weather after 12 months depicted serious surface failure with high addition of EM up to 4%. Overall, this study concludes that the use of EM at 2% loading has positive effects on the properties of coatings. © 2022