Electrochemical study of corrosion properties of low carbon steel in 1M HCl in the presence of novel cationic surfactant

In the present investigation novel cationic surfactant with imidazole structure was tested as corrosion inhibitor for low carbon steel in 1M HCl solution. Their critical micelle concentration (cmc) at equilibrium in 1M HCl at 25oC was determined. Weight loss and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were applied to study the metal corrosion behavior in the absence and presence of different concentration of surfactant and immersion on time. The result of mass loss indicated that the inhibitive efficiency of the surfactants increases with the rise of concentration. According to the obtained results from EIS measurement, inhibition efficiency was about 34% with 1ppm surfactant present, increasing to about 25ppm (near cmc) at the 96.8% surfactant concentration. EIS results indicated that the change in the impedance parameters (Rt and Cdl) with concentration of inhibitors was due to the formation of a protective layer on the surface of steel

Keywords:

Novel cationic surfactant , Low carbon steel , Critical micelle concentration (cmc) , EIS