Effect of temperature on the inhibition of the acid corrosion of steel by benzimidazole derivatives

The effect of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (inh. I) and 2-mercapto-5-methylbenzimidazole (inh. II) on the corrosion of mild steel in 1M solutions of sulphuric acid has been investigated in relation to the concentration of the inhibitor as well as temperature by various monitoring corrosion techniques. The results obtained revealed that these compounds are good inhibitors. All the impedance diagrams gave semicircles for both inhibitors indicating that the corrosion of mild steel is controlled by a charge transfer process and the presence of either inhibitor does not alter the mechanism of the dissolution of mild steel. In general, both inhibitors efficiencies increased with increasing the inhibitors concentration at all temperatures used. On the other hand, inhibitors efficiencies were almost constant with increasing the temperature at concentrations 5 × 10−4 M, 1 × 10−3 M and 5 × 10−3 M. The best performance was noticed in case of (inh. II) especially at the concentration 5 × 10−3 M. Adsorption of both inhibitors was found to follow Langmuir, Flory-Huggins isotherms and kinetic-thermodynamic model. The binding constants “K” were calculated for both inhibitors. On increasing the temperature, the value of “K” increased in both cases indicative of stronger binding of the inhibitor molecule to the mild steel surface and hence higher inhibition efficiency at higher temperatures. The activation energy of the corrosion reaction decreases with increasing the concentration of (inh. I) or (inh. II). The adsorption of both inhibitors on the surface of mild steel is probably chemisorbed on the electrode surface. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated. Mass loss measurements revealed that both inhibitors exhibit maximum inhibition efficiency with increasing the concentration and temperature which confirm the data obtained from AC impedance. DC polarization data reveals that, both inhibitors does not alter the mechanism of anodic behaviour of mild steel and they behave as mixed type inhibitors. Again both inhibitors exhibit maximum inhibition efficiency with increasing the concentration and temperature which confirm the data obtained from AC impedance.