A study of corrosion control of carbon steel using inhibitors in a simulated environment

The weather in the Arabian Gulf region constitutes an environment that is corrosive to carbon steel. In the Gulf region, atmospheric corrosion is aggravated further by the high salinity of Gulf sea-water. In addition, sulphur dioxide and deposits from combustion products tend to make the atmosphere in the Gulf region even more corrosive. Various inhibitors are reported in the literature that can help in the prevention of metal corrosion in aqueous environments. Among these, sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate were obtained and the effectiveness of certain corrosion inhibitors on carbon steel specimens was examined in a simulated atmospheric corrosion environment containing 2% NaCl and 1% Na₂SO₄ with various inhibitor concentrations. Test specimens were prepared from locally produced carbon steel reinforcing bars. It was found as a result of the test programme that treatment of the steel with 10 or 100mM sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate for one day at room temperature resulted in the best inhibition of corrosion. The results also demonstrated that inhibitors such as sodium benzoate and sodium nitrite were only similarly effective, as was sodium nitrate. Plans further study to examine the inhibition performance of sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate under actual atmospheric conditions.