Study the Corrosion of Iron Steel in Presence of Sacrificial Anode in Different pH Media

Corrosion is a common concern that arises from the use of iron metal components in daily life, both at home and industrial scale.Cathodic protection employing a sacrificial anode is one of several ways for preventing iron corrosion and it is a common industrial method for preventing corrosion in underground pipes, ships, and storage tanks.The two basic components of the cathodic protection method are the metal to be protected, a second metal is used as a sacrificial anode to prevent corrosion.This study involved preparing corrosive cells with different pH corrosive media (1,3,5,7,9 and11) in different immersion times (30, 60, and 90 days).It aimed to apply the principle of sacrificial anodes by using zinc and iron as sacrificial anodes for the protection of iron and copper respectively.The magnitudes of the percentage of corrosion (% corrosion) and corrosion rate (CR) were observed by the weight loss method for Fe without protection, Fe/Zn couple, and Fe/Cu couple.The CR varies with varied immersion times and acid-alkaline concentrations.The results show a large % corrosion and CR in acidic media, with varying degrees, compared to the alkaline and neutral media.At pH=1 and 90 days immersion time, the % corrosion reached 92.26% and CR reached 102.33 mpy, this proved that the acidic media accelerated the corrosion of iron.Promising results were obtained in which corrosion rates were reduced and determined by applying for protection with the sacrificial anode.The CR of iron declined from 102.33 mpy to 13.31 mpy at pH=1 and after 90 days for Fe/Zn couple.Whereas, CR of Fe/Cu couple increased significantly from 13.31 mpy to 30.94 mpy at pH=1 and after 90 days when it compared with the CR of Fe/Zn couple.