Electrochemical study of effect of the concentration of azole derivatives on corrosion behavior of stainless steel in H2SO4

In order to improve corrosion resistance of the stainless steel structures exposed to acidic media, a variety of corrosion inhibitors particularly organic ones have been examined. In this work, the corrosion inhibition performance of two azole derivatives namely benzotriazole and benzothiazole on stainless steel in 1 M sulfuric acid was studied through taking advantage of electrochemical techniques as well as SEM surface analysis. Revealing effectiveness of the two inhibitors, the AC impedance spectra indicated no change in corrosion mechanism. The noise resistance and average current density as parameters extracted from electrochemical noise measurements revealed the direct proportion of inhibition function to the inhibitor concentration. In accordance with the polarization curves, benzotriazole and benzothiazole appeared to act as mixed type inhibitors. The adsorption of the two corrosion inhibitors was shown to obey Langmuir isotherm. Moreover, it was deduced from the isotherm that the type of adsorption can be physical and chemical in nature. The corrosion damage mitigation was also confirmed through SEM in the presence of benzothiazole.