Investigating corrosion failure in N80 carbon Steel: Experimental and theoretical insights into isonicotinohydrazide derivatives as inhibitors in acidic conditions

Abstract

This research work is a detailed analysis of the failure mechanisms related to the corrosion of N80 carbon steel (N80-CS) in an acidic environment (15 wt% HCl), commonly encountered in oil and gas industry pipelines. The study investigates the corrosion failure, focusing on the interactions with two isonicotinohydrazide derivatives, namely N'-[(Z)-furan-2-ylmethylidene]pyridine-4-carbohydrazide (FMI) and N'-[(Z)-phenylmethylidene]pyridine-4-carbohydrazide (BIH). A combination of experimental and theoretical methods, including weight loss (WL), electrochemical analysis, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Density Functional Tight Binding (DFTB) semi-empirical calculations, frontier molecular orbital analyses, Fukui function studies, and molecular dynamics simulations, was utilized to identify the corrosion and corrosion inhibition behavior of N80-CS. Experimental findings demonstrated that the inhibition performance of FMI and BIH increased proportionally with the concentration of these inhibitors, demonstrating inhibition efficiencies of 95 %, and 98 %, respectively. This performance was reflected by the enhancement of polarization resistance and a significant reduction in corrosion current density at optimum concentrations. Additionally, they demonstrated exceptional corrosion protection capabilities over prolonged immersion times (up to 5 days) and only a moderate decrease in efficiency with increasing temperature, highlighting their robustness under varying operating conditions. The adsorption behavior of these inhibitors was observed to be in agreement with the Langmuir adsorption model, suggesting physicochemical interactions occurring at the N80-CS surface, specifically covalent bonding. Theoretical studies from DFT, molecular dynamics, and DFTB strengthened experimental results, confirming strong interactions between the inhibitors’ atoms and the surface. Through the integrative experimental and theoretical approach of this study, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms and inhibition performance of these studied compounds was achieved. The findings can serve as an invaluable resource towards the development of more efficient corrosion inhibitors, further contributing to the broader field of corrosion and prevention strategies.