Inhibition of mild steel corrosion in the presence of fatty acid triazoles

The influence of some fatty acid triazoles namely, 4-Phenyl-5-undecyl-4H- [1,2,4] triazole-3-thiol (PUTT), 5-Heptadec-8-enyl-4-phenyl-4H- [1,2,4] triazole-3-thiol (HPTT), and 5-Dec-9-enyl-4-phenyl-4H- [1,2,4] triazole-3-thiol (DPTT) on the corrosion of mild steel in 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) and 0.5 M sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) was studied by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization methods. The values of activation energy and free energy of adsorption of all the triazoles were calculated to investigate the mechanism of corrosion inhibition. The potentiodynamic polarization studies were carried out at room temperature, according to which all the compounds were mixed type inhibitors and inhibit the corrosion of mild steel by blocking the active sites of the metal. The adsorption of all the triazoles on mild steel surface in both the acid solutions was found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. All the compounds showed good inhibition efficiency in both acids. The inhibition efficiency of the compounds was found to vary with their nature and concentration, solution temperature and immersion time. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was also used to investigate the mechanism of the corrosion inhibition.