Recent Developments on the Use of Polymers as Corrosion Inhibitors - A Review

Abstract

The use of corrosion inhibitors is the one the most economical and practical means of controlling metallic corrosion in different corrosive media. Interest on the use of eco-friendly organic compounds as corrosion inhibitors has extended to the use of polymers to inhibit metallic corrosion. The use of polymers as corrosion inhibitors has attracted attention and has gained wide acceptance in recent times. This has been attributed to a number of factors namely: (i) they are low cost and stable to metallic materials in acid media, (ii) they possess multiple adsorption sites, (iii) through their functional groups, they form complexes with metal ions and on the metal surface these complexes occupy a large area, thereby blanketing the surface and protecting the metal from corrosive agents present in the solution. A number of synthetic and natural polymers as metallic corrosion inhibitors have been investigated and reported. As an update to previous review work on the use of polymers as corrosion inhibitors, the present review presents most of the contributions made to the literature on the use of polymers as corrosion inhibitors of diverse metals in different corrosive media in the last four (2010-2013) years.