# Antifouling Epoxy Coatings with Scots Pine Bark Extracts

## TL;DR

This study explores using Scots pine bark extract in epoxy coatings to create antifouling materials with antibacterial and mechanical properties.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in combining Scots pine bark extract with epoxy to achieve antifouling coatings with enhanced antibacterial and mechanical performance.

## Key findings

- Epoxy composites with bark extract showed good mechanical and chemical resistance properties.
- The coatings exhibited antibacterial activity, making them suitable for antifouling applications.
- Physical and chemical tests confirmed the effectiveness of the bark extract in enhancing coating performance.

## Abstract

Antifouling coatings have to provide antibacterial performance combined with good mechanical and chemical properties. The good anticorrosive performance of tannins on steel surfaces and antibacterial activity of phytochemicals from conifers could provide a solution in the form of Scots pine bark extract. In this study, epoxy compositions with different ratios of the characterised extract (TPC, HPLC analysis of phytochemicals) were tested physically (density), mechanically (Shore D hardness, three-point bending test, Charpy impact test), chemically (DSC curing analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, chemical resistance), and microbiologically (antibacterial activity). The results were analysed and the performance of the composites was evaluated.