Corrosion inhibitor distribution on abrasive-blasted steels

A Krautsieder; N Sharifi; D C Madden; J Sonke; A F Routh; S M Clarke

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.12.003

Corrosion inhibitor distribution on abrasive-blasted steels

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Mar 15:634:336-345. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.12.003. Epub 2022 Dec 9.

Authors

A Krautsieder¹, N Sharifi², D C Madden², J Sonke³, A F Routh¹, S M Clarke⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, CB3 0AS Cambridge, UK; Institute of Energy and Environmental Flows, University of Cambridge, CB3 0EZ Cambridge, UK.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW Cambridge, UK; Institute of Energy and Environmental Flows, University of Cambridge, CB3 0EZ Cambridge, UK.
³ Shell Global Solutions P. V., 1031 HW Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW Cambridge, UK; Institute of Energy and Environmental Flows, University of Cambridge, CB3 0EZ Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: sc10015@cam.ac.uk.

PMID: 36535169
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.12.003

Abstract

Hypothesis: Abrasive-blasted steel surfaces exhibit a complex, multi-substrate environment. Adsorption to contaminant substrates can reduce the amount of available corrosion inhibitor and decrease its efficiency. Knowledge of where inhibitors preferentially adsorb is required.

Experiments: The quantitative extent and strength of adsorption of the representative corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole (BTAH) from toluene to particular substrates is given, including corrections for solution self-association, and complemented by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG), and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements.

Findings: All substrates show adsorbed BTAH layers. Based on the adsorption strength, preferential adsorption is found to be in the order steel > iron oxide > calcium carbonate and garnet > silica - this is relevant when there is limited BTAH. However, with ample BTAH, the amounts adsorbed in the plateau regions of the isotherm are more relevant and the order is calcium carbonate and silica > iron oxide > garnet > steel. Although the contaminant substrates deplete the BTAH concentration, the steel should still have a complete monolayer of BTAH inhibitor. This work is part of a larger initiative developing novel methods of corrosion inhibitor delivery via the blasting process, to prevent corrosion between blasting and repainting.

Keywords: Abrasive blasting; Adsorption; Corrosion inhibition; Steel maintenance.