Zinc Phosphate
“Most Commonly Used Corrosion Inhibitor”
Introduction
 Zinc Phosphate (Zn3(PO4)2 is an inorganic
compound that has many industrial uses and
is also predominantly found being used in
dental restorations. Zinc phosphate is the
oldest of the luting cements and serves as a
standard for newer cements to be compared
to. Zinc phosphate is commonly used as
pretreatment over galvanized and ferrous
substrates providing corrosion resistance and
better adhesion for powder coating. Zinc
phosphate pretreatment can provide 750
hours of corrosion protection over raw steel
and 1,000 hours of protection over galvanized
steel. As a non-toxic white, stable pigment,
zinc phosphate features corrosion protection
and adhesion capabilities that are highly
demanded in industrial and dental settings.
Physical and Chemical Properties
Table 1: Data for Corrosion Efficiency on Cold Rolled Steel (CRS) Figure 1: Labeled Schematic for
Physical Chemical
Properties: Properties:
• Low Thermal • Insoluble in
Conductivity water
• Low Crushing • Anti-Corrosion
Strength
• Opaque
Appearance
• Adhesion
• Lightweight
Coating (15-100
mg/ft^2)
Hazards
• Zinc phosphate is considered extremely toxic to
aquatic life and has long lasting effects. Zinc
phosphate should not be released into public
stretches of water and waste should only be
released into a waste water management facility.
Zinc phosphate is non-flammable.
2
Ryan Mazur, Chemical Engineering, Rochester Institute of
Technology
Corrosion Inhibitor Efficiency Study
Synthesis and Design
• Zinc phosphate is known for its inhibition efficiency as an anticorrosive pigment. The efficiency of •Zinc phosphate was first produced by
zinc phosphate is directly related to the following properties: purity, solubility, morphology, pigment- treating zinc oxide with phosphoric acid in an
polymer interactions, pigment volume concentration, the surrounding environment, and the aqueous solution at 70-80℃ in the presence
substrate. For some applications, zinc phosphate pigments are modified increasing the coating of metallic zinc and then separating out the
weight as well as protection by altering the above properties. zinc phosphate. Product yield was 98% for
• A study was conducted to identify and simplify criteria for the selection of anticorrosive pigments for this process.
a given application (steel substrate) •It is crucial that the metallic zinc added to
the process must be in an amount from 1-
• 1 gram of each pigment was leached in 500 ml of 0.5 M NaCl for 24 hours. After the 24 hour
10% by weight of zinc oxide. If metallic zinc
period, the mixtures were filtered and pH and conductivity readings were taken. Substrates were
submerged for sixteen hours. Polarization experiments were conducted to develop plots of is not 1-10% by weight od zinc oxide, the
electrode potential vs. current density. product will not have adequate protective
and physico-mechanical properties for use.
•Zinc phosphate is produced in bulk to
ensure that the end product when used will
show no signs of corrosion when applied on
a surface. 438 grams of zinc oxide and four
grams of metallic zinc (powder) are
grounded by wet grinding in presence of 500
g of water in a ball mill. 1,000 g of additional
water is added and the slurry is heated to
70℃. Under continuous stirring, 350 g of
phosphoric acid is added to the slurry. After
forty-five minutes, the slurry is filtered and
700 g of zinc phosphate is recovered once
Experimental Design of Study
Figure 2: Cathodic Polarization Plot for dried.
Reference Samples on CRS
Results
Modified Zinc Phosphate (P7) had the greatest percent inhibition efficiency on CRS with 95%.
Polarization plot at the cathode site of the substrate shows that modified zinc phosphate had the
greatest electrode potential with the most least current density. Therefore, the best pigment for the
inhibition of steel is modified zinc phosphate.
Anticorrosive Behavior at Microscopic Level
Figure 5: Process Flow Diagram for bulk production of
zinc phosphate
Citations
• http://www.halox.com/events/files/Abrafati%202007.pdf
Figure 3: Fundamental reactions for the hydrolysis of zinc • http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
phosphate and the formation of the undissolved complex Parser?d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.ht
phosphate product m&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4207301.PN.&OS=PN/4207301&RS=PN/
4207301
• http://www.sncz.com/images/upload/sds-phosphate-de-
zinc_1.pdf
Figure 4: Zinc Phosphating application
• J. Wang, D. Li, J. Liu, X. Yang, J. He and Y. Lu, "One-Step Preparation and
on a substrate at a microscopic level
Characterization of Zinc Phosphate Nanocrystals with Modified
Surface," Soft Nanoscience Letters,Vol. 1 No. 3, 2011, pp. 81-85.
doi: 10.4236/snl.2011.13015.
• Menke, Joseph T. "Zinc Phosphate Coatings on NonFerrous Substrates
-- Part I". PFOnline. Retrieved 2006-08-07.