Abstract
2-Pentadecyl-1,3-imidazoline (PDI), 2-Undecyl-1,3-imidazoline (UDI), 2-Heptadecyl-1,3-imidazoline (HDI), 2-Nonyl-1,3-imidazoline (NI) were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR and NMR Studies. The corrosion inhibition properties of these compounds on aluminium in 1 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO4 were investigated by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance and scanning electron microscopic techniques. The weight loss study showed that the inhibition efficiency increases with increase in the concentration of the inhibitor and was found to be inversely related to time and temperature while it shows no significant change with increase in acid concentration. The effectiveness of these inhibitors were in the order of UDI > NI > PDI > HDI .The values of activation energy, free energy of adsorption, heat of adsorption, enthalpy of activation and entropy of activation were also calculated to elaborate the mechanism of corrosion inhibition. The adsorption of these compounds on aluminium surface follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The potentiodynamic polarization data show that the compounds studied are mixed type inhibitors. Electrochemical impedance was used to investigate the mechanism of corrosion inhibition. The surface characteristics of inhibited and uninhibited metal samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).