SOLVENTS EFFECT ON THERMAL STABILITY AND ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF GRIFFONIA SIMPLICIFOLIA EXTRACTS AS STEEL CORROSION INHIBITOR IN ACIDIC ENVIRONMENT

Different solvents were used to extract Griffonia simplicifolia and tested corrosion inhibitors for as X80 steel in 1 M HCl solution. The corrosion tests were conducted by thermo-gravimetric analyses (TGA), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) while the surface morphologies were checked by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The essence was to investigate the effects of the solvents on the yield, phytochemical profile, corrosion inhibition properties and thermal stability of the extracts. The highest yields of 63.24 g kg -1 and 51.63 g kg -1 were obtained with seeds (SEGS) and leaves (LEGS) extracts respectively in ethanol-water (1:1) system. Acetone extract showed presence of all the tested phytochemicals namely alkaloids, tannins, saponins, glycosides, steroids and terpenoids. The highest inhibition efficiencies of 95.86 % (SEGS) and 82.14 % (LEGS) were obtained with acetone extracts. Acetone extract was also most thermally stable being 66.4 % (SEGS) and 50.05 % (LEGS) efficient at 90 °C, followed by ethanol extract while methanol extract was least stable and least efficient. Inhibitors act as mixed type and their addition increased charge transfer resistance and decreased corrosion current density with respect to the free acid solution. Micrographs of the steel surface in some systems show evidence of slight surface protection by the inhibitors. It has been inferred from this study that both acetone and ethanol are better solvents for extraction of Griffonia simplicifolia based corrosion inhibitors.