Peculiarities of Corrosion of a Zinc Coating in Neutral Media in the Presence of Inhibitors Based on Benzotriazole, Cyclohexylamine, and Morpholine

The influence of domestic nitrogen-containing corrosion inhibitors of the VNKh-L type on corrosion regularities of a zinc coating on steel in neutral media is investigated. This work is aimed at studying the surface structure of a corroding zinc coating, as well as the influence of conditions simulating the degradation of inhibitors during real operation on their protective properties. Mechanical activation in a ball planetary mill is used to simulate the deformation and thermal operational conditions of inhibitors. Corrosion of a zinc coating on steel is carried out in a sulfate–chloride medium simulating atmospheric corrosion and in a borate buffer solution. The concentration of inhibitors in the corrosion media was 0.2 wt %. The morphology of a corroded surface of a zinc coating is studied using a Philips SEM-515 scanning electron microscope (at an accelerating voltage of 10 kV) with an X-ray microprobe. Studies of the corrosion rate of zinc coating on St 08 are carried out by the indirect measurement of corrosion resistance with the help of a MONIKOR-1 corrosion meter. A borate buffer solution (Na₂B₄O₇ + H₃BO₃, pH 6.6) and a solution simulating atmospheric corrosion (NaCl + Na₂SO₄, pH 6.0) are used as corrosion media. The corrosion rate of samples in corrosive media without an inhibitor is accepted 1. The exposure time of each sample in corrosive media is 3 h. The chemical composition of corrosion products is studied by the mirror reflection in the IR range. The IR spectra of the metal plate surface are recorded using an FSM-1202 IR Fourier spectrometer in a wavelength range of 450–4000 cm^–1 with a resolution of 2 cm^–1 and an accumulation of 100 scans. To record the reflection spectra, a mirror-reflection attachment with a 10° angle of incidence is used. The corrosion rate of zinc coating in sulfate–chloride and solvent media in the presence of inhibitors based on benzotriazole and cyclohexylamine is practically not decreased when compared with the corrosion rate in the same media without inhibitors. The addition of both initial and mechanically activated inhibitors based on morpholine and benzotriazole to the corrosion medium decreases the corrosion rate of iron when compared with the corrosion in the same media without inhibitors. The pitting corrosion of a zinc coating is observed in the presence of initial and mechanically activated inhibitors of both types in studied corrosion media. Herewith, the pitting depth is smaller than the zinc-coating thickness under these conditions.