Abstract
Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) can be absorbed in polymeric coatings through absorption and permeation, thus presenting a lethal touch and vapor hazards to people. Developing a highly impermeable polymer coating against CWAs, especially against organophosphate CWAs (OPs), is challenging and desirable. Herein, fluorinated epoxy (F-EP) and epoxy (EP) coatings with different cross-link densities were prepared to resist OPs. The effects of the polymer coating structure, including cross-link density, chemical composition and free volume, on the chemical resistance to dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP, Soman simulant) were investigated in detail. Meanwhile, the chemical resistance to Soman and VX was examined. The results reveal that the cross-link density is a critical factor in determining the chemical resistance of the coatings. Highly cross-linked EP and F-EP coatings with dense and solid cross-linked networks can fully bar DMMP and OPs permeation during the test time. At low or medium cross-link densities, the EP coating with a lower retention of DMMP exhibited a higher resistance than the F-EP coating due to the lower interaction with DMMP and smaller free-volume holes and lower relative fractional free volume. These results suggest that increasing the cross-link density is a reasonable approach to control the chemical resistance of polymer networks against OPs.