Abstract
The present study deals with the evaluation of the corrosion inhibition effectiveness of the two binary mixtures of nonyl phenol (NPH) with 2, 4 dimethyl aniline (DMA) and 2 ethyl aniline (EA) at different concentration ratios (from 1:7 to 7:1) for mild steel in H2SO4 (pH=1) solution by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization method. Corrosion inhibition ability of the compounds has been tested at different exposure periods (6 h to 24 h) and at different temperatures (303 K to 333 K). The binary mixture of NPH and EA (at 7:1 concentration ratio) has afforded maximum inhibition (IE% 93.5%) at 6 h exposure period and at room temperature. The adsorption of both the inhibitors is found to accord with Temkin adsorption isotherm. Potentiodynamic polarization study reveals that the tested inhibitors are mixed type inhibitor and preferentially act on cathodic areas. Electrochemical impedance study suggests formation of an inhibition layer by the adsorption of the inhibitors on the metal surface. An adsorption model of the inhibitor molecules on the metal surface has been proposed after immersion test in the inhibited acid showed characteristic shift of N-H and O-H bond frequencies towards lower side compared to that of the respective pure samples which indicated the donation of electron pair through N and O atom of the inhibitor molecule in the surface adsorption phenomena. SEM study has revealed formation of semi globular inhibitor products on the metal surface. The comparisons of the protection efficiencies of these compounds according to their relative electron density on the adsorption centre and projected molecular area of the inhibitor molecules have been made.