Abstract:

The inhibition effect of red tetrazolium on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 1.0 ~ 5.0 mol/L HCl media has been studied by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization methods. Atomic force microscope (AFM) provided the CRS surface conditions. The results show that neutral red tetrazolium is a good inhibitor for CRS, and the adsorption of red tetrazolium on the CRS surface follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation. Polarization curves show that red tetrazolium is a mixed-type inhibitor in hydrochloric acid. Based on the adsorption thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, the inhibitive mechanism is discussed. AFM results show that the introduction of red tetrazolium into HCl solution results in the formation of a compact and dense inhibitive film on the CRS surface.

Key words: hydrochloric acid, cold rolled steel, red tetrazolium, inhibition, adsorption, atomic force microscope