Interaction of Coated Mild Steel and Cooling Systems, A DFT Approach

The present work describes the corrosion inhibition of one of the widely used alloys in the industrial process, i.e., Mild Steel in Fresh water and demineralized water using acrylic polymer coating, Acrylic/8% Zn3(PO4)2 coatings, and Acrylic/8% Zn3(PO4)2/ 5mM AgNPs coating. The efficiency of coating on mild steel in fresh water and demineralized water was studied using suitable gravimetric and electrochemical techniques and the surface texture of mild steel after coating was studied by Scanning Electron Microscope. The electrochemical study reveals that the coating efficiency was found to decrease with an increase in temperature and Acrylic/8% Zn3(PO4)2/5mM AgNPs exhibited the highest inhibition efficiency of 94% and 95% in fresh water and demineralized water respectively at 303K. The excellent corrosion coating performance is attributed to the physisorption process of adsorption of the coatings on the metal surface which in turn followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The results obtained by both Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods were in good agreement with each other. The density functional theory in the study of acrylic coating also supported the obtained experimental results. To sum up, the acrylic coating with and without 8% Zn3(PO4)2/ 5mM AgNPs is an efficient corrosion coating material.