Paper Title
An Ecofriendly Electrophoretic Process for Engineering Polymer Composite Coatings – A Green Technology

Abstract
Synthetic organic polymers and their composites, owing to their versatile range of properties and ease of processing, are being exploited in almost every sphere of engineering and technology. However their processing and methods of application involve hazardous and inflammable chemicals and solvents that has been causing environmental pollution and health-hazards over the decades. In this paper the author presents the development of a green and eco-friendly process for polymer nano- composite coatings intended for engineering application, through chemical modification of hydrophobic epoxy polymer into a water-dispersible hydrophilic & ionisable polymer and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of the polymer nanocomposite coating on the metal substrates. A commercial grade epoxy resin is converted into a water-dispersible quaternary ammonium salt using amination process and dispersed in water as emulsion, followed by dispersion of montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay particles and subjected to electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of polymer nanocomposite coating on the cathode surface. The EPD coatings derived from aqueous dispersion were cured and characterised for dielectric properties. Almost 2-fold rise in dielectric strength (upto 35 kV/mm) and about 10 fold increase in Electrical resistivity (upto 4.5 x 1016 Ω.cm) as compared to that of the neat epoxy indicate their suitability for high voltage electrical insulation. The author highlights the importance of eco-friendly route for producing engineering polymer composite coatings from aqueous medium using novel electrophoretic deposition process, without environmental pollution. Keywords - Electrophoretic, Nanocomposite, Electrodeposition, Aqueous dispersion.