Innovative use of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) encapsulated mesoporous silicon oxide (SiO2) nanoparticles as corrosion inhibitor in coolant for corrosion protection of aluminium alloy

Abstract

The present study has explored to implement mesoporous silicon oxide (SiO2) nanoparticles encapsulated with Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) into the simulated coolant to inhibit corrosion to aluminium alloy. The synthesis of MSN-CTAB was achieved by a one-step process, where CTAB acted as micelles. The synthesis was carried out in a counter swirling impinging jet flow reactor, which enables precise control over reaction conditions. Notably, the local turbulence generated within this reactor has been considered to have a significant impact on forming highly uniform and better morphological nanoparticles. The structural evolutions and morphological characteristics of MSN-CTAB have been performed using various approaches such as FTIR, SEM and TGA analysis, by which the loading percentage of CTAB in the mesoporous silica was found to be ∼36 %. The inhibition performance was evaluated by weight loss test, electrochemical test and numerical simulation. All of the results confirmed the synergistic inhibition effect of MSN and CTAB against the corrosion of 5052 Aluminium substrate in acid solution. Besides, the potentiodynamic polarisation results revealed MSN-CTAB to be a mixed-type inhibitor, and the EIS results suggested the formation of a protective film. Comparisons between the blank and MSN-CTAB samples showed that the inhibition efficiency peaked at 0.2 wt% MSN-CTAB, particularly at high temperatures. The test solution comprised a mixture of ethylene glycol and water acted as a simulated automotive coolant. Therefore, the findings of this research can contribute to corrosion prevention in automotive coolant systems.

Keywords

• Corrosion inhibition
• Mesoporous silica
• Acid coolant
• Mass transfer
• Aluminium alloy