Corrosion behavior of carbon steel in 1 M, 2 M, and 3 M HCl solutions

Abstract

Almost every house or kitchen is not devoid of stainless steel utensils, which are characterized by their strength and resistance to rust and to chemicals in foods and drinks. The high resistance of stainless steel made it an ideal material suitable for industrial, scientific and military uses. Choosing stainless steel is the choice of the elite, as it is one of the best healthy metals and does not interact with any of the food components of all kinds, and stainless steel is repellent to insects and all microbes. Corrosion of carbon steel (CS) in acid media is a common problem in chemical and petroleum industries. Hydrochloric acid provides severe corrosive environments that have their own effect and characteristics when reacted with industrial metal. In this experimental work, the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel (CS) using the immersion method in various concentrations of hydrochloric acid (HCl) has been studied. The experimental results proved that the corrosion rate was enhanced when the concentration of the hydrochloric acid solution increased. The erosion severity is in the first two days for (1 M) hydrochloric acid solution, while the erosion severity continues to 6 and 8 days for (2 M) and (3 M), respectively. Corrosion damages of carbon steel (CS) in the acid environment clearly occurred and enhanced via increasing the molarity of the HCl solution.