Exploring the Potential of a Plant Extract in Mitigating Corrosion under Jet Impingement Conditions

The inhibition effect of Bhumyamalakhi (Phyllanthus Niruri) on 6061 aluminium alloy erosion-corrosion in simulated seawater was explored using potentiodynamic polarisation (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Experiments were performed to examine the hydrodynamic effects on the behavior of the inhibitor. Conditions were optimized to achieve maximum inhibition efficiency by varying the concentration of inhibitor (500 and 1000ppm), temperature (30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C) and flowrate (4, 8, 12 L/min) of slurry. Surface morphology was studied with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersion X ray (EDX) studies. The experimental findings indicated that an increase in flowrate and temperature decreased the efficiency of inhibitor and an increase in inhibitor concentration caused an increase in inhibitor efficiency. The inhibition efficiency of 80% and 53% was obtained at 30 °C and 50 °C at 4 L/min for 1000 ppm of inhibitor. Surface morphology demonstrated the complete damage of the material due to erosion corrosion and the surface became relatively smooth after the addition of the inhibitor.