The interface electrochemical and chemical mechanism of the low alloy steel in a 3.5% NaCl solution containing the Ce 3+ -based inhibitor was investigated by the electrochemical techniques in conjunction with the surface analysis technologies. It was shown that the Ce 3+based inhibitor was an anodic inhibitor with more than 90.0% inhibitory efficiency. The net-shaped inhibiting film with 200 to 500-nm greyish balls was observed on the specimen surface. During the corrosion reaction occurred on the surface of the low alloy steel, the hydrolysis reaction of P 3 O 10 5− and the disproportionation reaction of Ce 3+ ions simultaneously occurred, too, resulting in the formation of the net-shaped inhibiting film with nano-scale greyish ball-type products, which contained Ce element and had an obvious effect on the electrochemical process of the low alloy steel in a 3.5% NaCl solution containing the Ce 3+ -based inhibitor. Therefore, the EIS spectra of the low alloy steel in a 3.5% NaCl solution containing the Ce 3+ -based inhibitor were composed of a capacitive loop at a high-frequency region and an inductive impedance loop at a low-frequency region.The charge-transfer resistance (R t ) increased with the immersion elapsed time, indicating that the inhibition efficiency of the Ce 3+ -based inhibitor increased with immersion elapsed time. The calculated data based on the fitted electrochemical parameters showed the partial coverage of the inhibitor. This was further revealed by the analysis of electrochemical kinetics that the inductive impedance (L) loop at a low frequency region resulted from the localized absorption of the Ce 3+based inhibitor on the surface of the low alloy steel in a 3.5% NaCl solution. It was also verified by micro-morphologies.
KEYWORDSCe 3+ -based inhibitor, electrochemical technique, interface mechanism, low alloy steel, NaCl solution, surface analysisAs the increasing applications of steel-based materials in diverse ocean conditions, the steel structures are subjected to serious corrosion in seawater. Therefore, several methods such as organic coatings and cathodic protection have been used to protect the steel structures. 1Among these strategies, the application of inhibitors is regarded as an economic and effective way in industrial fields. 2 In past years, researches were mainly focused on the usages of the inhibitors for carbon steel in water. [3][4][5] There are few inhibitors available for low alloy steels in a chloride solution or seawater. However, some highly effective inhibitors are required for the application of low alloy steel in ocean industry.Recently, the applications of rare earth elements (Re) have caught the attention of corrosion scientists. 6-12 For example, cerium chloride (CeCl 3 ) not only acted predominantly as a mixed inhibitor for carbon steel in natural seawater, 13 but also the inhibitor (Ce(NO 3 ) 3 + Na 2 MoO 4 ) had a better inhibition effect for X70 steel in a 3.5 NaCl solution. 14 Ce 3+ was also used as 1 component of the inhibitor for protecting AA3003 aluminu...