Study on Corrosion Resistance of Organometallic Coating Used in Automotive Fuel Tanks

In the last decade, industries have been concerned about the processes production sustainability and with the use of alternative energies forms, in order to minimize the amount of waste generated in the process, and to suit market requirements. With this view, one alternative for automotive industry is the use of organometallic coated automotive fuel tanks. These tanks are not permeable to hydrocarbons, they do not need to be painted after stamping and are 100% recyclable. The replacement of fossil fuels with biofuels is also a way to minimize the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, reducing global warming. In this work, corrosion resistance of organometallic coated and tin coated automotive tanks, in contact with hydrated ethyl alcohol, gasoline, and diesel and soybean biodiesel was evaluated and compared, using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy technique. The polarization resistance values for these two types of fuel tanks in contact with these different media were obtained and compared. The results indicate a more efficiency of organometallic coating when compared with tin coating, in all media. When the biofuel solutions are compared, it is observed that the soybean biodiesel is more corrosive than diesel. However this biodiesel is still less corrosive than hydrated ethyl alcohol.