Electrochemical and theoretical investigation on the corrosion inhibition of mild steel by thiosalicylaldehyde derivatives in hydrochloric acid solution

Inhibitory effect of three Schiff bases 2-{(2-sulfanylphenyl)imino]methyl}]phenol (A), 2-{(2)-1-(4-methylphenyl)methylidene]amino}-1-benznethiol (B), and 2-(2-sulfanylphen-yl)ethanimidoyl)]phenol (C) on corrosion of mild steel in 15% HCl solution has been studied using weight loss measurements, polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. The results of the investigation show that the compounds A and B with mean efficiency of 99% at 200 mg/L additive concentration have fairly good inhibiting properties for mild steel corrosion in hydrochloric acid, and they are as mixed inhibitor. All measurements show that inhibition efficiencies increase with increase in inhibitor concentration. This reveals that inhibitive actions of inhibitors were mainly due to adsorption on mild steel surface. Adsorption of these inhibitors follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Thermodynamic adsorption parameters (K_ads, ΔG_ads) of studied Schiff bases were calculated using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Activation parameters of the corrosion process such as activation energies, E_a, activation enthalpies, ΔH^∗, and activation entropies, ΔS^∗, were calculated by the obtained corrosion currents at different temperatures. Obvious correlation was found between the corrosion inhibition efficiency and the calculated parameters. The obtained theoretical results have been adapted with the experimental data.