Improvements of Hydrophobicity and Toughness of Epoxy Coatings Modified with Hydroxyl-terminated Fluororubber

Yu-Tong Zhou; You-Fan Wu; Qian-Qian Yang; Hai-Bao Zhang; Ting Zhang; Hao-Yan Guo; Zhen-Jun Wang; Gang Li

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3688-4

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Improvements of Hydrophobicity and Toughness of Epoxy Coatings Modified with Hydroxyl-terminated Fluororubber

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-08-31

- Improvements of Hydrophobicity and Toughness of Epoxy Coatings Modified with Hydroxyl-terminated Fluororubber
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 9, Pages: 3129-3141(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
  b.Shaanxi Union Research Center of University and Enterprise for Advanced Transportation Infrastructure Materials, Xi’an 710064, China
  c.College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
- Author bio：
  
  zhangting@chd.edu.cn (T.Z.)
  zjwang@chd.edu.cn (Z.J.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3688-4
  CLC：
- Received：11 December 2025，
  
  Accepted：27 March 2026，
  
  Online First：10 June 2026，
  
  Published：05 September 2026
- Accepted：
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Zhou, Y. T.; Wu, Y. F.; Yang, Q. Q.; Zhang, H. B.; Zhang, T.; Guo, H. Y.; Wang, Z. J.; Li, G. Improvements of hydrophobicity and toughness of epoxy coatings modified with hydroxyl-terminated fluororubber. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3129–3141

Yu-Tong Zhou, You-Fan Wu, Qian-Qian Yang, et al. Improvements of Hydrophobicity and Toughness of Epoxy Coatings Modified with Hydroxyl-terminated Fluororubber[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(9): 3129-3141.
Zhou, Y. T.; Wu, Y. F.; Yang, Q. Q.; Zhang, H. B.; Zhang, T.; Guo, H. Y.; Wang, Z. J.; Li, G. Improvements of hydrophobicity and toughness of epoxy coatings modified with hydroxyl-terminated fluororubber. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3129–3141 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3688-4.

Yu-Tong Zhou, You-Fan Wu, Qian-Qian Yang, et al. Improvements of Hydrophobicity and Toughness of Epoxy Coatings Modified with Hydroxyl-terminated Fluororubber[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(9): 3129-3141. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3688-4.

摘要

Flexible fluororubber grafting onto epoxy resin achieves high toughness (elongation at break: 46.40%) and hydrophobicity (contact angle: 110°) at 25% HTFR content

significantly enhancing cavitation erosion resistance.

Abstract

To address the brittleness of epoxy resin (EP) caused by high crosslinking density

the modification of epoxy resin with flexible rubber segments was proposed in this work. Bisphenol A-type epoxy resin (E51) was reacted with isocyanate-terminated groups

via

an addition reaction to prepare a prepolymer (E51-TDI). Subsequently

E51-TDI was grafted with hydroxyl-terminated fluororubber (HTFR) to synthesize a high-toughness fluorinated epoxy resin (E51-TDI-HTFR) with side chains. A mixture of E51-TDI-HTFR and curing agent (D230) was used to fabricate the coating. The chemical structure of the modified epoxy resin and the thermal

hydrophobic

mechanical

and cavitation erosion resistance of the coatings were investigated. When the HTFR concentration was 25%

the epoxy coating exhibited the best hydrophobicity

mechanical properties

and cavitation resistance. The contact angle of the modified epoxy resin was increased to 110°. Meanwhile

the elongation at break increased to 46.40%

which was approximately four times that of the unmodified coatings. The fracture surface gradually became rougher as the HTFR content increased

indicating a ductile fracture characteristic. Although the addition of HTFR slightly reduced the glass transition temperature

it maintained good thermal stability. In addition

the cavitation erosion resistance of the epoxy coatings was enhanced. This study provides theoretical support for the development of high-toughness and hydrophobic epoxy coatings.

关键词

Keywords

references

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