Polarization Behavior of Steel Corrosion in Laterite, Yellow Soil and Kaolin

Abstract

Corrosion of buried pipelines caused by aging process has taken serious problems. Pitting corrosion in underground pipelines may yield material damage causing great loss of economic value and therefore, this study has emphasized on carbon steel corrosion in three types of soil (laterite, yellow soil and kaolin). Yellow soil solution performed remarkable polarization behavior compared to laterite and kaolin solutions on the basis of Tafel plot. Corrosion potentials of – 0.36V, – 0.47V and – 0.35V were showed by carbon steel corrosion in laterite, yellow soil and kaolin solutions. Yellow soil solution also performed the most corrosive effect on carbon steel due to temperature effect (30o – 90oC). In addition, the corrosion of carbon steel in yellow soil solution posed the lowest enthalpy with regard to thermodynamic effect. This study also showed that the carbon steel corrosion in laterite solution referred to pitting corrosion based on linear adsorption isotherm. This investigation gives valuable information with respect to underground pipelines corrosion.