Method of applying an anti-corrosion and/or adhesion promoting coating to a metal and resulting coated metal

1. A method of coating at least a portion of the exposed surface of a metal that does not contain a chromium sealed zinc phosphate coating, which comprises the steps:

a) applying to said surface a curable coating composition consisting essentially of:

(i) an aqueous solution of at least one partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane wherein the partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane is obtained from at least one hydrolyzable silane of the general Formula (1):

wherein:

each occurrence of R 1 and R 2 is independently a monovalent hydrocarbyl group of up to 20 carbon atoms, selected from an alkyl, alkenyl, arenyl, aryl, aralkyl and acyl group, optionally containing one or more etheric oxygen atoms;

each occurrence of R 3 and R 4 is independently a divalent hydrocarbylene group of up to 12 carbon atoms, selected from an alkylene, alkenylene, arenylene, arylene and aralkylene group;

each occurrence of R 5 is independently a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbylene group of up to 12 carbon atoms, selected from an alkylene, alkenylene, arenylene, arylene and aralkylene group, provided, when b is 0, c is 0 and d is 1, then R 5 is a chemical bond between R 3 and the —OH group;

each occurrence of R 6 is independently hydrogen, a monovalent hydrocarbyl group of up to 8 carbon atoms, selected from an alkyl, alkenyl, arenyl, aryl or aralkyl group, an —R 3 SiR 2 a (OR 1 ) 3-a group, a —C(═O)A 1 R 5 (OH) d group and an —R 5 (OH) d group;

each occurrence of R 7 is independently hydrogen, a monovalent hydrocarbyl group of up to 8 carbon atoms, selected from an alkyl, alkenyl, arenyl, aryl, and aralkyl group, an —R 3 SiR 2 a (OR 1 ) 3-a group and an —R 8 (OH) f group;

each occurrence of A l is independently divalent oxygen (—O—) or nitrogen of the structure —NR 9 — in which wherein R 9 is hydrogen, a monovalent hydrocarbyl group of up to 8 carbon atoms, selected from an alkyl, alkenyl, arenyl, aryl or aralkyl group, an —R 3 SiR 2 a (OR 1 ) 3-a group and an —R 8 (OH) f group wherein each occurrence of R 8 is independently a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbylene group selected from alkylene, alkenylene, arenylene, arylene and aralkylene groups of up to 12 carbon atoms; and,

each occurrence of the subscripts a, b, c, d, e and f is independently an integer wherein a is 0 to 2; b is 0 to 20; c is 0 or 1; d is 1 to 4; e is 0 or 1; and, f is 1 to 4; and,

(ii) at least one additional component selected from the group consisting of cosolvent, surfactant, a hydrolysable silane lacking a hydroxyl group and a pH modifier; and,

b) curing the curable coating composition on the surface of the metal to provide an anti-corrosion coating thereon, wherein the curing step is carried out to provide an incompletely cured coating composition possessing a level of condensation of from 60 to 99 percent; and,

c) applying a paint to the anti-corrosion coating of step (b) to provide for a metal surface coated therewith exhibiting at least 10 percent decrease in creepage value as measured by ASTM D 1654 compared with the similarly measured creepage value of a metal surface possessing a chromium sealed zinc phosphate coating of a thickness of 0.01 to 5 micrometers and the same paint of a thickness of 0.1 to 100 micrometers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each R 1 O— group is independently a hydrolyzable alkyloxy, acyloxy, alkoxyalkyloxy, alkoxyaryloxy, acyloxyalkyloxy, acyloxyaryloxy or aryloxy group.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each R 3 and R 4 group possesses from 1 to 12 carbon atoms and is independently a linear, branched or cyclic alkylene group.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane is obtained from at least one hydrolyzable silane selected from the group consisting of

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)aminopropyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, hydroxyethylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-methylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-methylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-butylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-butylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)aminopropyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, hydroxypropylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-methylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyproyl)-N-methylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-butylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-butylaminopropyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxyethyl)aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

hydroxyethylaminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-methylaminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-methylaminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-butylaminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyethyl)-N-butylaminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

hydroxypropyl-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-methylaminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxyproyl)-N-methylaminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-butyl-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxypropyl)-N-butyl-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxylethyl)-N-ethyl-3-amino-isobutyltrimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxylethyl)-N-ethyl-3-amino-isobutyl-triethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxylethyl)-N-ethyl-3-amino-isobutylmethyldimethoxysilane,

N-(hydroxylethyl)-N-ethyl-3-amino-isobutylmethyldiethoxysilane,

bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltrimethoxysilane,

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltrimethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltriethoxysilane,

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmthyldimethoxysilane,

bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldiethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldimethoxysilane,

bis-(hydroxypropyl)-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldiethoxysilane,

2-hydroxyethyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltrimethoxysilane,

2-hydroxyethyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltriethoxysilane,

hydroxypropyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltrimethoxysilane,

hydroxypropyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutyltriethoxysilane,

2-hydroxyethyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmthyldimethoxysilane,

2-hydroxyethyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldiethoxysilane,

hydroxypropyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldimethoxysilane,

hydroxypropyl-4-amino-3,3-dimethylbutylmethyldiethoxysilane,

hydroxymethyltrimethoxysilane, hydroxymethyltriethoxysilane,

(N-3-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N′,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) urea),

N-3-triethoxysilylpropyl-N′,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) urea,

N-(3-trimethoxysilanyl-propyl)-carbamic acid 2-hydroxy-ethyl ester and

[2-(2-trimethoxysilanyl-ethylamino)-ethyl]-carbamic acid 2-hydroxy-ethyl ester.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane is obtained from at least one hydrolyzable silane selected from the group consisting of aminoalkoxysilane, ureidoalkoxysilane, epoxyalkoxysilane and haloalkoxysilane.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane is obtained by hydrolysis of a mixture of hydrolyzable silanes at least one of which is a hydroxyl-containing hydrolyzable silane and at least one other of which is a hydrolyzable silane lacking a hydroxyl group.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the partially or completely hydrolyzed and optionally partially condensed silane is obtained from a hydrolyzable silane having a solubility of up to full miscibility with water.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution contains a cosolvent.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein curing step (b) is carried out to provide an underlying incompletely cured silane-based coating possessing a level of condensation of from 65 to 95 percent.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one component of the paint possesses groups that form covalent bonds and/or hydrogen bonds with hydroxyl groups of silane-based component(s) of the underlying incompletely cured coating.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein at least one component of the paint possesses groups that form covalent bonds and/or hydrogen bonds with hydroxyl groups of silane-based component(s) of the underlying incompletely cured coating.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the paint is selected from epoxies, enamels, latexes, primers, basecoats, clearcoats, lacquers, varnishes, shellacs and polyurethane finishes.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the paint is selected from epoxies, enamels, latexes, primers, basecoats, clearcoats, lacquers, varnishes, shellacs and polyurethane finishes.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal possesses a form selected from the group consisting of sheet, bar, rod, wire or foil, the metal being selected from the group consisting of copper, silver, brass, titanium, titanium alloy, gold, tin, nickel, chromium, tantalum, iron, surface cold-rolled steel, galvanized steel, hot dip galvanized steel, prime steel, steel coated with at least one of zinc, zinc alloy or aluminum, aluminum or aluminum alloy.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution has a stability of at least 3 months.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein an amount of curable coating composition is applied to the metal surface so as to provide upon curing a coating thickness of from 0.01 to 5 micrometers.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein an amount of curable coating composition is applied to the metal surface so as to provide upon curing a coating thickness of from 0.1 to 1 micrometer.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein each R 1 and R 2 group is independently an alkyl group of from 1 to 4 carbon atoms; each R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and R 8 group is independently a linear alkylene group of from 3 to 6 carbon atoms; each R 6 group is independently hydrogen, a linear alkyl group of from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, an —R 5 (OH) d group or a —C(═O)A 1 R 5 (OH) d group wherein d is 1 to 4, each A 1 is —NR 9 — wherein R 9 is hydrogen; and, each R 7 group is independently hydrogen, a linear alkyl group of from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or an —R 8 (OH) f group.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein each A 1 is independently —O— or —NR 9 — wherein R 9 is hydrogen, an alkyl group of from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or an —R 5 (OH) d group wherein R 5 is an alkylene group of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; and, b is 0 or 1, c is 1, d is 1, and e is 1.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein each A 1 is independently —NR 9 — wherein R 9 is hydrogen or an —R 5 (OH) d group wherein R 5 is an alkylene group of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; and, b is 0 or 1, c is 1, d is 1, and e is 1.