ACTA Natural Products as a Source of Environmentally Friendly Corrosion Inhibitors: The Case of Gum Exudate

The inhibitive effect of the gum exudate from Acacia seyal var. seyal on the corrosion of mild steel in drinking water was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The results obtained show that gum exudates could serve as effective inhibitors for the corrosion of steel in drinking water network. The percentage inhibition increases with increasing the concentration of the gum at 30 oC. The percentage inhibitor efficiency above 95 % was attained at gum concentration ≥400 ppm. The corrosion rates of steel and inhibition efficiencies of the gum exudates obtained from impedance and polarization measurements were in good agreement. Potentiodynamic polarization studies clearly reveal that the gum behaves predominantly as an anodic inhibitor. The study also shows that the inhibition efficiency was insignificantly affected by the temperature rise of the medium