Effect of polyacrylic acid on the corrosion behaviour of aluminium in sulphuric acid solution

Electrochemical techniques using both ac and dc as well as surface analyses approach were used to investigate the corrosion inhibition characteristics of polyacrylic acid (PAA) for pure cast aluminium in 0.5 M H ₂SO ₄ at 30 ± 1 °C. The effect of iodide ion additives was also studied. The results obtained indicate that PAA inhibited the corrosion of pure cast aluminium in the acid medium by adsorption onto the metal surface following Frumkin adsorption isotherm model. Inhibition efficiency increases with an increase in PAA concentration and synergistically enhanced by the addition of iodide ions. A mixed inhibition mechanism is proposed for the inhibitive effects of PAA as revealed by potentiodynamic polarisation technique. Synergism parameter evaluated was found to be greater than unity, indicating that the enhanced inhibition efficiency of PAA on addition of iodide ions was synergistic in nature. Fourier transform infrared analyses revealed that the synergistic effect of iodide ions and PAA is due to co-adsorption of iodide ions and PAA molecules which is cooperative in nature.