Kinetics of Corrosion Rate of Carbon Steels in Different Acidic Media

The corrosion properties of carbon steels in various acidic media sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid has been studied. This paper also discussed about the corrosion behavior of mild steel in two different concentrations. Carbon steels were exposed to different acid environments in different intervals of time and corrosion rates were evaluated using weight loss method. It was evident from the results that the corrosion rate of the carbon steels in all the acidic media are increased with time of exposure. The carbon steels shows higher corrosion rates in nitric acid medium than compared to other acidic media. This can be attributed to strong oxidizing property of nitric acid and larger potential to break down the passivating film formed on the surface of the sample. The mild steel sample was also exposed to different concentrations of nitric acid medium. The results shows that the corrosion rate was increased with increase of concentration possibly attributed to increase in the rate of reaction on the surface of the sample which further reduces the energy barrier