Inhibition of cold rolled steel corrosion by Tween-20 in sulfuric acid: Weight loss, electrochemical and AFM approaches

The inhibiting action of a nonionic surfactant of Tween-20 on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 0.5-7.0 M sulfuric acid (H2SO4) was studied by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization methods. Atomic force microscope (AFM) provided the surface conditions. The results show that inhibition efficiency increases with the inhibitor concentration, while it decreases with the sulfuric acid concentration. The adsorption of inhibitor on the cold rolled steel surface obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation. Effect of immersion time was studied and discussed. The effect of temperature on the corrosion behavior of cold rolled steel was also studied at four temperatures ranging from 30 to 60 °C, the thermodynamic parameters such as adsorption heat, adsorption free energy, and adsorption entropy were calculated. The results revealed that the adsorption was physisorption mechanism. A kinetic study of cold rolled steel in uninhibited and inhibited acid was also discussed. The kinetic parameters such as apparent activation energy, pre-exponential factor, rate constant, and reaction constant were calculated for the reactions of corrosion. The inhibition effect is satisfactorily explained by both thermodynamic and kinetic models. Polarization curves show that Tween-20 is a cathodic-type inhibitor in sulfuric acid. The results obtained from weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization are in good agreement, and the Tween-20 inhibition action could also be evidenced by surface AFM images.