362 DOI: 10.1002/maco.200905511 Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No.

Polyaspartic acid as a green corrosion inhibitor for carbon

steel
R. Cui, N. Gu* and C. Li

The inhibitor effect of the environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor

polyaspartic acid (PASP) on the corrosion of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 was
investigated by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical
impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Polarization curve results clearly reveal the fact that PASP is a good anode-type
inhibitor. EIS results confirm its corrosion inhibition ability. The inhibition
efficiency increases with increasing PASP concentration, and the maximum
inhibition efficiency was 80.33% at 10 8C. SEM reveals that a protective film
forms on the surface of the inhibited sample. The adsorption of this inhibitor is
found to follow the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. A mechanism is proposed to
explain the inhibitory action of the corrosion inhibitor.

1 Introduction basic biological monomers confers on them many of the same

The study of carbon steel corrosion phenomena is an important
industrial and academic topic, especially in acid media [1–3]; this
is due to the increased industrial applications of acid solutions
such as acid pickling, industrial cleaning, acid descaling, and the
petrochemical processes. Since the commonly used hydrochloric
acid, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid are all among the most
corrosive media, efforts have been made to investigate and
explore proper corrosion inhibitors to protect carbon steel from
corrosion aggression in acidic environment [4–6].
Though inorganic compounds such as chromate, dichro-
mate, nitrite, and nitrate are widely used as corrosion inhibitors
for different metals and alloys [7], the biotoxicity of these
products, especially chromate, is also well documented [8]. At the
meantime, various organic inhibitors are accepted to reduce iron
and steel corrosion in acidic solutions; phosphor-type compounds
are among the predominant choices as corrosion inhibitors for
almost all the existing developed formulas [9]. However, with the
increase of environmental awareness, attention is being made to
the study of green inhibitors [10, 11]. Recently, research in
corrosion prevention is oriented to the development of green
compounds with good inhibition efficiency but low risk of
environmental pollution [12].
For example, polymers, though created by the chemical
polymerization of monomers, the fact that they are derived from
properties as microbial- or plant-derived biopolymers including
non-toxicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility [13]. Among
these, the polyaspartate polymers [14, 15] are analogs of natural
proteins. Polyaspartate in nature, particularly the aspartate-rich
proteins from oyster shells, play a key role in regulating
mineralization [16]. Therefore, it can be deduced that the
synthesized polyaspartate also owns the intrinsic anti-corrosive
properties.
Polyaspartic acid (PASP) has been synthesized and used [17–19]
as one of the green water treatment agents [20, 21]. PASP can be
synthesized either by hydrolysis of polysuccinimide (PSI) or by
thermal polymerization of aspartic acid monomer [22]. However,
there are few reports on the corrosion inhibition behavior of
PASP on carbon steel in sulfuric acid solutions.
This study aims to gain some insight into the corrosion of
carbon steel in H2SO4 in the presence of PASP as a corrosion
inhibitor. Systematic studies on the inhibitor effect of PASP have
not been reported. The corrosion inhibition behavior of PASP
on carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution was investigated at
the temperature range of 10–50 8C using polarization curve
technique and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)
method. The adsorption behavior of PASP in corrosion reaction
on carbon steel was also studied to determine the appropriate
adsorption isotherm, the standard free energy of adsorption
(DGu), and the apparent activation energy.

2 Experimental
R. Cui, N. Gu, C. Li
Department of Chemistry, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 2.1 Synthesis of the inhibitor (PASP)
050016 (P.R. China)
E-mail: gu_ning@tom.com
L-Aspartic acid and H2SO4 were of analytical grade acquired from

R. Cui Sigma. They were used without previous purification. Distilled

Department of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Changshu and deionized water was used for solution preparations. PASP
Institute of Technology, Changshu 215500 (P.R. China) was prepared starting from thermal condensation reaction of

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Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4 Polyaspartic acid as a green corrosion inhibitor 363

L-aspartic acid [23–26]. L-Aspartic acid was baked at 250 8C in a

forced convection oven for 6 h resulting in the formation of PSI,
and sodium polyaspartate was obtained by titrating the weighed
PSI with 2 M NaOH. PASP can be formed when adding a certain
amount of sodium polyaspartate to 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. For the
convenience of calculation, in this paper, PASP concentration is
represented by the amount of PSI used. The synthesized PASP
was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). All FTIR
spectroscopic measurements were performed on a Bruker model Figure 1. Structure of a_ aspartic acid and b_ aspartic acid
VECTOR22 Fourier transform spectrometer using KBr pressed
disks. specimen was carefully scraped and collected. While for SEM
examination, the polished electrode was exposed in 0.5 M H2SO4
2.2 Electrodes preparation for 2 h at 20 8C with PASP.

Working electrodes were cut from a carbon steel sheet (C: 0.49, Si:
0.17, Mn: 0.50, Cr: 0.25, S: 0.035, Fe: balance; wt%). Measure-
ments were carried out on carbon steel electrode molded in
polyester leaving an exposed area of 0.28 cm2. The tests were
performed in a standard water-jacketed electrochemical cell with
constant temperature control. The counter electrode was a
platinum electrode and the reference electrode was a saturated
calomel electrode (SCE). The electrode surface was polished with
abrasive paper up to 1200 grade, degreased with acetone, washed
with double-distilled water, dried under compressed air, and
placed in the test solution for 90 min prior to each experiment. All
potentials were referred to the SCE.
2.3 Weight loss determinations
Carbon steel specimens (50
25
2.0 mm3) were used for the
weight loss experiment. Carbon steel specimens in triplicate were
immersed in 1600 mL of 0.5 M aerated H2SO4 containing various
concentrations of PASP at 20 8C. The weight of specimens was
determined before and after immersion. The immersion
experiments lasted 48 h.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 PASP characterization by FTIR
The viscosity average molecular weight (Mw) of PASP was
determined to be 3100. In contrast to the linkage of aspartic acid
in native materials, PASP was obtained by the thermal
polycondensing process containing a_ and b_ linked moieties
in a constant molar ratio of 30:70 [27–29]. Figure 1 shows the
structure of a_ aspartic acid and b_ aspartic acid.
Proof of the sample’s nature was provided by FTIR spectra
shown in Fig. 2. In the spectra of PASP, the characteristic peaks at
1190 and 3411 cm1 correspond to the C–O and O–H stretching
of the –COOH, peak at 1390 cm1 is related to the C–N stretching
mode of the acylamide group, the peak at 1600 cm1 is assigned
to the bending of N–H. The band at 1793 cm1 is ascribed to the
stretching vibration C – – O. Additionally, the wave number
3000 cm1 is assigned to the C–H stretching vibration. It is
evident that the PASP is successfully synthesized.
3.2 Weight loss experiment

2.4 Electrochemical techniques Weight loss method can provide the reliable information toward
the inhibitory effect of a given compound. In this part of
Potentiostatic polarization measurements were carried out using experiment, corrosion parameters such as corrosion rate and
CHI660B electrochemical workstation (Chenhua Instrument, inhibitor efficiency were calculated for carbon steel in 0.5 M
Inc., Shanghai, China). The polarization curves were obtained aerated H2SO4 in absence and in the presence of different
from the corrosion potential (Ecorr) up to 300 mV at a potential
scan rate of 2.0 mV/s at 20 8C constant temperature. Impedance
measurements were carried out using AC signals of amplitude
5 mV peak to peak at open circuit potential in the frequency
range 0.05–105 Hz by a PAR potentiostat (EG&G, model 283) and
a PAR lock-in amplifier (EG&G, model 5208). The test was
performed at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 8C, respectively.

2.5 Surface analysis

Surface analysis on the carbon steel electrode of the formed

adsorbed film was accomplished by both FTIR (FTIR-8900,
SHIMADZU) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM, Hitachi
S-570, Hitachi). The adsorbed film sample for FTIR test was
obtained after exposing carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution
along with 5.0 g/L PASP for 12 h. Then the electrode was gently
rinsed with double-distilled water and air-dried, and the film Figure 2. FTIR spectra of synthesized PASP

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364 Cui, Gu and Li Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4

Table 1. Calculated corrosion rate and inhibitor efficiency by weight

loss measurement in 0.5 M aerated H2SO4 in absence and in the
presence of PASP at 20 8C

System Corrosion rate Inhibition

(mm/year) efficiency (%)

0.5 M H2SO4 27.45 –

0.5 M H2SO4 þ 0.1 g/L PASP 16.85 39
0.5 M H2SO4 þ 0.5 g/L PASP 11.04 60
0.5 M H2SO4 þ 1.0 g/L PASP 8.57 69
0.5 M H2SO4 þ 2.0 g/L PASP 6.04 78
0.5 M H2SO4 þ 4.0 g/L PASP 5.52 80

concentrations of PASP at 20 8C based on the weight loss data

collected. The immersion time lasted for 48 h. The inhibition
efficiency (h%) was calculated using equation [30–32]:
 
WL
h% ¼ 1
100
WLo
where WLo and WL are the weight losses of specimens without
and with inhibitor.
The results are summarized in Table 1.
From Table 1, it can be seen that with the increase of PASP
concentration from 0.1 to 4.0 g/L, the corrosion rate of carbon
steel further decreases from 16.85 to 5.52 mm/year, and the
corresponding PASP inhibition efficiency increases from 38.61 to
79.79%. This trend may result from the fact that adsorption and
surface coverage increases with the increase of PASP concentra-
tion and thus the surface is efficiently separated from the
medium [33, 34]. Therefore, PASP owned the inhibitory effect to
retard the corrosion process on carbon steel in H2SO4 solution.
Additionally, the inhibition efficiency was enhanced in the
presence of different concentrations of PASP from 0.1 to 4.0 g/L.
When the PASP concentration was 2 g/L, the optimum inhibition
efficiency 78.00% was reached. No significant inhibition
efficiency increase was observed with PASP concentration higher
than 2 g/L.
3.3 Polarization measurements
Figure 3. Typical polarization curves of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 in
the presence of different concentrations of PASP at 20 8C
(1)
and the obvious decrease of the anodic current density with the
increasing of PASP concentration, PASP is considered as an
inhibitor of predominant anodic effect to protect carbon steel in
0.5 M H2SO4 [35, 36]. This means that the addition of PASP
reduces mainly the anodic dissolution and also slightly retards the
hydrogen evolution reaction.
Secondly, comparing the anodic curves of carbon steel in the
absence and presence of PASP, it is obvious that when
E > 367 mV, the anodic curves with PASP all shift close to
that in H2SO4 solution only. This is the reflection of the enhanced
reverse dissolution process leading to the desorption of the
formed inhibitory adsorption film on the carbon steel surface.
Therefore, like most organic inhibitors, PASP functions by
adherence to the corroding metal surface to retard dissolution by
virtue of adsorption [37–39]; and the desorption–adsorption
process is also observed reflected from the featured ‘‘platform’’
part of the anode polarization curves in 0.5 M H2SO4 with the
addition of PASP (Fig. 3).
Additionally, the corrosion current densities (icorr) were
determined from the intersection of linear parts of cathodic and
anodic curves. The inhibition efficiency (h) at each concentration
was calculated using the following equation [40]:

In order to classify PASP as an anodic-, cathodic-, or mixed-type  

inhibitor and its effect on the kinetics of the anodic and cathodic
reactions, the polarization behavior of carbon steel in
0.5 M H2SO4 at 20 8C in the absence and presence of PASP
was investigated. The corrosion potential (Ecorr) was obtained by
measuring the open circuit potential as a function of time.
Figure 3 presents the typical anodic and cathodic potentiody-
namic polarization curves of carbon steel in the presence of
different concentrations of PASP along with no adding of PASP
as the control.
The following conclusions can be deduced by interpreting
the data obtained from Fig. 3. Firstly, the anodic reaction is
markedly affected upon introducing PASP to the H2SO4 solution,
and the cathodic one is lightly shifted toward lower current
densities. Based on the positive shift in the corrosion potential
icorr
h¼ 1 o
100% (2)
icorr
where iocorr and icorr are the corrosion densities in the absence and
the presence of inhibitor, respectively. Table 2 shows the effect of
PASP concentration on corrosion kinetics parameters such as
corrosion potential (Ecorr), corrosion current density (icorr), ba
(anodic Tafel slope), bc (cathodic Tafel slope), and h obtained from
polarization measurements.
It is observed from Table 2 that the presence of PASP lowers
ic significantly at all the studied concentrations indicating the
effectiveness of PASP as corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel in
0.5 M H2SO4; the same conclusion as that deduced from the
weight loss experiments.

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Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4 Polyaspartic acid as a green corrosion inhibitor 365

Table 2. The electrochemical parameters (Ec, bc, ba, ic, and h) associated with polarization measurements of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 in the
presence of different concentrations of PASP

System (g/L) Ecorr (mV) bc (V/decade) ba (V/decade) icorr (mA/cm2) h (%)

0 509 0.8239 1.228 0.5382 –

0.1 489 0.9934 1.080 0.3754 30.26
1.0 477 1.239 1.144 0.2620 51.32
2.5 473 1.206 1.498 0.1441 73.22
5.0 468 1.232 1.107 0.1407 73.86
10 460 1.014 1.279 0.1609 70.10

Figure 4. Nyquist plots of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 (a) with different concentrations of PASP at 10 8C, (b) without PASP at different temperatures,
and (c) with 2.5 g/L PASP at different temperatures

3.4 Impedance measurements Mathematically, the impedance of a CPE can be defined as [40]:

Impedance measurements on carbon steel electrode in ZCPE ¼ ðQ ðjvÞn Þ1 (3)

0.5 M H2SO4 alone and in the presence of different concentra-
tions of PASP were performed at the open circuit potential at the
temperature range of 10–50 8C.
Presented as Nyquist plots, Fig. 4a shows the influence of
PASP concentration on impedance spectra at 10 8C. The Nyquist
plots in Fig. 4b and c illustrate the temperature influence on
carbon steel impedance spectra in 0.5 M H2SO4 only and along
with 2.5 g/L PASP, respectively. Figure 5a and b are the Bode
plots.
The Nyquist plots show the depressed semi-circle pattern
under all the cases described above (Fig. 4). And it can be seen
from Fig. 5a and b that the slopes of log (Z) against log f curves are
not 1 in the Bode plots. This kind of deviations is often referred
to as frequency dispersion, largely attributed to roughness and
inhomogeneities of the tested solid surfaces [41, 42]. Often a
constant phase element (CPE) is used in a model in place of a
capacitor to compensate for non-homogeneity in the system. A
practical way to describe the distribution processes such
as corrosion on a rough and inhomogeneous electrode
surface is possible with CPE that meets this circumstance.
where the coefficient Q is a reflection of the electrode’s combined
properties related to both the surface inhomogeneity and the
electrochemical reactivity. The value of exponent n varies between
1 and 1 [43]. For a perfect capacitor n ¼ 1, for a resistor n ¼ 0,
and n ¼ 0.5 represents a Warburg element, while n ¼ 1 means
an inductance electrode. Given an example, a rough or porous
surface can cause a double-layer capacitance to have a CPE with n
value between 0.9 and 1 [44].
The polarization resistance can be defined according to the
impedance data by using the following equation [45]:
Rp ¼ lim RefZf g (4)
v!0
where Re{Zf } denotes the real part of the complex faradic
impedance Zf and v corresponds to the frequency of the AC
signal (v ¼ 2pf).
The equivalent circuit used to fit the experimental data
consisted of resistor Rt (electrolyte resistance) in series with the

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366 Cui, Gu and Li
Figure 5. (a) and (b) represent bode plots of carbon steel electrode in 0.5 M H2SO4 with 2.5 g/L PASP at different temperatures
parallel combination of CPE (Q) and Rp (polarization resistance).
For each set of experimental data the parameters Rt, Q, and Rp
were evaluated using a nonlinear least square fit procedure as
shown in Table 2. The data are found to be sufficiently well
fitted by a given equivalent circuit within the limits of
experimental error. Inhibition efficiency, represented by h(%)
[h ¼ (i0i/i0)
100%], can be determined by performing the
calculation:
i Rp
from ¼ 0
i0 Rp
the following equation is obtained [44, 45]:
Rp0
h¼1
100%
Rp
in which Rp0 and Rp are the polarization resistance without
and with inhibitor in the system, respectively. Table 3 is the
summarization of Rt, h, and ln(Rt) of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4
with the existence of different concentrations of PASP at the
designed temperatures. These data indicate that (i) Rp increases
along with the increasing of PASP concentration up to 2.5 g/L at
the given temperatures; which confirms the conclusion of the
inhibitory effect of PASP obtained from weight loss and
potentiodynamic polarization measurements. (ii) Under the
same PASP concentration, Rp shows a decreasing trend when
raising the reaction system temperature; apparently this
demonstrates the enhancing corrosion reaction at higher
temperature and the consequent weakened protective ability of
PASP in retarding this aggressive progress. (iii) When setting up
the reaction condition at 6.0 g/L PASP and 10 8C, PASP achieves
the best inhibition performance on carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4
solution.
3.4.1 Activation energy of carbon steel in the dissolution process
It is important to elucidate the temperature influence on an
inhibitor’s performance in retarding the corrosion process in a
certain reaction system.
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Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4
For example, an inhibitor’s apparent activation energy can be
expressed as [46]:
 
Ea
jcorr ¼ A exp (7)
RT
where Ea is the activation energy. Taking the logarithm form of
Equation (7) and substituting jcorr with the well-known Stern–
Geary equation: jcorr ¼ ba bc 2:3ðba þ bc ÞRp , where ba ¼ 2:3 RT=
aa F and bc ¼ 2:3 RT=ac F, the following equation can be
(5)
deduced:
Rp Ea
ln ¼ þ constants (8)
T RT
This depicts that in acid solution, the logarithm of the
(6)
corrosion rate is a linear function of 1/T [47–49]. The constants
include A, R, F, aa, and ac. Therefore, a plot of ln Rp/T against
1/T will give a straight line from which Ea can be calculated based
on its line slope. Table 4 lists the Ea values at the tested different
PASP concentrations. It can be seen from this table that Ea always
has a higher value in the presence of added PASP than that
without it. It is obvious that this type of inhibitor retarded the
corrosion process at the designed experimental temperatures.
3.4.2 Adsorption isotherm
Organic inhibitors establish their inhibition via the adsorption of
the inhibitor onto the metal surface. The adsorption processes of
inhibitors are influenced by the chemical structures of
compounds, the nature and surface charge of metal, the
distribution of charge in the molecule, the type of corrosive
media and the temperature [50, 51].
The inhibition efficiency of PASP is determined by its
molecular absorbability on the carbon steel surface. At constant
potential, the degree of surface coverage (u) of carbon steel by
adsorbing PASP can be calculated using the following equation
[52]:
Rp0
u ¼1 (9)
Rp
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Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4 Polyaspartic acid as a green corrosion inhibitor 367

Table 3. Rt and h of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 with the existence of different concentrations of PASP at the designed temperatures

T (K) r (g/L) Q
106 (V) n Rt (V) h (%)

283 0.0 453.64 0.77 151.24 –

0.1 451.88 0.76 284.09 46.76
1.0 277.78 0.78 441.80 65.77
2.5 270.42 0.78 553.39 72.67
5.0 273.18 0.75 633.36 76.12
6.0 226.86 0.76 768.98 80.33
8.0 262.58 0.76 746.93 79.75
10.0 239.88 0.75 703.11 78.49
293 0.0 316.65 0.80 118.25 –
0.1 300.81 0.76 211.32 43.89
1.0 324.32 0.74 290.49 59.29
2.5 341.87 0.72 305.60 61.30
3.0 296.95 0.75 332.42 64.42
4.0 273.44 0.74 356.20 66.80
5.0 250.84 0.76 399.83 70.42
6.0 261.35 0.73 388.50 69.56
8.0 232.02 0.76 416.62 71.62
303 0.0 352.27 0.81 76.196 –
0.1 354.43 0.78 84.192 9.50
1.0 433.49 0.77 113.84 33.07
2.5 270.07 0.78 136.63 44.23
5.0 704.89 0.588 167.23 54.43
8.0 441.56 0.76 148.51 47.74
313 0.0 459.46 0.83 37.086 –
0.1 336.17 0.78 40.195 7.74
1.0 508.11 0.78 63.378 41.48
2.5 485.45 0.76 71.614 48.21
5.0 516.76 0.74 82.314 54.95
6.0 500.68 0.76 80.787 54.09
8.0 465.58 0.72 91.913 59.65
10.0 511.66 0.71 86.504 57.13
15.0 533.94 0.72 96.125 61.24
323 0.0 134.74 0.75 12.491 –
0.1 885.96 0.79 19.381 35.55
1.0 761.33 0.74 33.563 62.78
2.5 852.65 0.73 42.68 70.73
5.0 679.37 0.77 50.094 73.00
8.0 715.54 0.75 46.002 72.85

Substituting u with h (data shown in Table 1), the coverage The free energy of adsorption, DG0ads , can be determined
degree of u is found to increase with the increasing concentration with the help of adsorption constant K:
of the additive at the same temperature. Table 2 shows that the
 
experimental data can be well illustrated by the Freundlich 1 DG0ads
K¼ exp  (11)
adsorption isotherm: 55:5 RT

log u ¼ log K þ n log C (10)

where 55.5 is the water concentration in solution expressed
in molar. The free energy of adsorption obtained from the
where K is the equilibrium constant of the adsorption process, C
Freundlich adsorption isotherm at 10 -C is DG0ads ¼ 21.43 kJ/
(mol/L) is the PASP concentration in the electrolyte. The graphs
mol, which means the spontaneous adsorption of PASP at the
of the Freundlich adsorption isotherms at 10 -C are depicted in
carbon steel surface [53].
Fig. 6. Additionally, the data collected at the other tested
temperatures also follows the Freundlich adsorption isotherms
3.5 Surface analysis
(data not shown).

Table 4. Activation energy (Ea) of carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution The formation of the protective surface film of PASP on the
with the existence of different concentrations of PASP electrode surface was further confirmed by SEM observations of
the electrode surface. Figure 7a shows the SEM image of carbon
r (PASP) (g/L) 0.0 1.0 2.5 5.0 8.0
steel specimen before immersion, and Fig. 7b–d show the SEM
Ea (kJ/mol) 46.60 51.25 50.61 52.33 54.48
images for carbon steel samples exposed in 0.5 M H2SO4

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368 Cui, Gu and Li
Figure 6. Freundlich’s adsorption isotherm on carbon steel in
0.5 M H2SO4 at different concentrations of PASP at 10 8C
solutions for 2 h at 20 8C with and without PASP. The morphology
of specimen surface reveals that the rate of corrosion is
suppressed in the presence of PASP (images b–d), as can be
seen from the decrease of the areas of localized corrosion with
increase of PASP concentration. Comparing images b–d, it is
obvious that the higher the PASP concentration, the more even
and thicker the formed adsorptive film of PASP on the electrode
surface. Therefore, the protective nature of the film formed on the
Figure 7. The SEM images of carbon steel specimens after 2 h
immersion in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution containing PASP at 20 8C (a) before
immersion, (b) with 1 g/L PASP, (c) with 2.5 g/L PASP, and (d) with 5.0 g/L
PASP
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Materials and Corrosion 2011, 62, No. 4
carbon steel surface is confirmed by both SEM examination and
the inhibition efficiency measurement using chemical and
electrochemical methods.
4 Conclusions
PASP was synthesized by a simple thermal condensation reaction
method starting from L-aspartic acid and was confirmed by FTIR
analysis to detect the existence of characteristic functional groups.
PASP as the carbon steel corrosion inhibitor in 0.5 M H2SO4
solution plays the predominantly anode effect on corrosion
mechanism and the inhibition efficiency was found to increase by
increasing the PASP concentration; the best performance
efficiency of PASP on carbon steel was 80.33%, which took
place in 6 g/L concentration at 10 8C. The same result was
obtained as that deduced from the weight loss experiment. The
inhibition process on carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution at
different temperatures was found to obey the Freundlich
adsorption isotherms; the free adsorption energy indicates the
spontaneous adsorption of PASP on the carbon steel surface. The
corrosion energy is higher in the presence of the additive than
that without PASP, which means the adding of PASP retards the
corrosion process at the designed experimental temperatures.
Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the Natural
Science Foundation of Hebei Province (Contract No.
B200600031), the Scientific Research Project of Hebei Province
(Contract No. 20052022), and the Scientific Research Project of
Hebei Normal University (Contract No. L2004Y05).
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(Received: September 8, 2009) W5511
(Accepted: October 15, 2009)
ß 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim