DHAKA UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY,

GAZIPUR- 1707
Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE)

Experiment No: 02 Date of Experiment: 25/07/2023

Group No: 03 Date of Submission: 08/08/2023

Course No: ChE- 4752

Course Title: Corrosion Science and Engineering Sessional

Name of the Experiment: Study of the influence of pH on corrosion.

Submitted By Submitted To

Name: Joy Mondol Dr. Mahbuba Jannat

Student ID: 198021 Assistant professor,

Year: 4th Department of Chemical Engineering

Semester: 1st Md. Jahirul Islam

Session: 2022-2023 Lecturer,

Department of Chemical Engineering

Name of Experiment: Study of the influence of pH on corrosion.
Objective:
To show that difference in pH can greatly affect the rates of corrosion.

Introduction: The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the electrolytic corrosion behavior
of copper and steel in a different pH solution. These were pH2, pH4, pH 10, pH12. Electrolytic
corrosion occurs when a metal is exposed to an electrolyte, resulting in the degradation of the metal due
to electrochemical reactions. Corrosion is fundamentally the creation of voltaic, or galvanic cells in
which the metal in question functions as an anode and generally degrades or loses functional stability.

Theory:
Iron and steel corrode in acid environments but very little corrosion occurs in alkaline situations. This
behavior can be explained by reference to the electromotive series in which elements are arranged in
order of the decreasing negative electrode potential when the element is immersed in an acid solution.
Metals such as iron above hydrogen (more electro-negative) will displace it from solution and hence
corrode, metals below hydrogen will not. An increase in the hydrogen ion concentration (more acid)
will tend to move hydrogen down the series and hence increase the voltage in the metal - H+ system
which will lead to higher corrosion rates. Following graph is obtained at different pH:

Experimental setup:
Materials and Equipment:
1. Anode (Steel)
2. Cathode (Copper)
3. 0.1M HCl Soln
4. 1M NaOH Soln
5. Distilled water

Experimental Procedure:
1. Make up sufficient test solution (600ml HCl pH -10) to fill a vessel.
2. The test solution should be of pH 2, 4, 10 & 12 and these solutions can be produced by adding
either dilute hydrochloric acid or Sodium Hydroxide to deionized water.
3. Weigh a steel sample and a copper sample.
4. Ensure O2 supply in the beakers.
5. Connect the electrodes in power supply.

Calculation:

Initial weight of steel = 8.378 g

Final weight of steel = 8.368 g
Amount of weight loss = (8.378- 8.368) g
= 0.01 g

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠
Corrosion rate =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒(𝑑𝑎𝑦)
0.01
= =0.003333 g/day
3
 Data table:

Group Time Final Weight corrosion

pH Electrode Initial weight
no (day) weight loss rate
3 Anode(steel) 8.309 8.193 0.116 0.038667
1 2 Copper
3
(Cathod) 8.418 8.421
3 Anode(steel) 8.421 8.403 0.018 0.006
4 Copper
3
2 (Cathod) 8.658 8.667
3 Anode(steel) 8.378 8.368 0.01 0.003333
3 10 Copper
3
(Cathod) 8.328 8.33
3 Anode(steel) 8.255 8.252 0.003 0.001
4 12 Copper
3
(Cathod) 8.778 8.78

Graph:

Corrosion rate vs pH
0.045

0.04

0.035

0.03
Corrosion Rate

0.025

0.02

0.015

0.01

0.005

0
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
pH
Results and discussion:
According to the experiment we can seen that the value of pH influence the corrosion rate. Where the
rate of corrosion increase with respect to the decrease the value of pH. For the experiment we made
several type of pH solution such as pH-2, pH-4, pH-10, pH-12, then completed the experiment, followed
by the procedure and we get maximum corrosion rate for pH-2 and minimum corrosion rate for pH-12
solution. Our group handle the experiment for pH-10 solution and we determine the weight loss is
0.01gm and the corrosion rate is 0.003333gm/day.