Kinetic Study of the Effect of Selected Surfactants on Corrosion of Copper

Abstract

The rates of copper corrosion were determined by measuring the limiting current of anodic dissolution of copper in phosphoric acid in presence and in absence of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetyl pyridinium bromide (CPYB). The rate of corrosion is found to decrease by increasing the concentration of the surfactant. The percentage of inhibition ranged from 1.85 to 33.97% depending on the type of surfactant and its concentration. Increasing the copper electrode height, and concentration of H3PO4 decreases the rate of copper corrosion. The investigated adsorption isotherms indicate that the two surfactants fit Langmuir and Flory Huggins isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters show that corrosion is a diffusion controlled process. The dimensional analysis method was used to obtain the overall mass transfer correlations under the study conditions.