Comparative studies of tetrazole derivatives on the corrosion inhibition of copper and commercial brass in simulated seawater

The corrosion inhibition of copper and its alloys in seawater using organic inhibitors has received much interest. Electrochemical techniques were used to evaluate the effectiveness of 5-Mercapto-1-methyltetrazole (MTAH) and 5-Aminotetrazole (ATAH) as corrosion inhibitors on copper and commercial brass in simulated seawater with 3.5% NaCl. EDS and SEM techniques were used to investigate the sample surfaces. The results showed that ATAH is more effective than MTAH in both samples, with an inhibition rate of 98% for copper and 86% for brass at a concentration of 0.01 M. Surface investigations reveal that the presence of ATAH has significantly protected the copper and brass surfaces compared to MTAH because of its amino group. According to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the inhibitors physicochemically adsorb on the sample surface. On the other hand, the Arrhenius plot showed a considerable jump in the corrosion activation energy when the inhibitor was present, proving the inhibitor’s efficiency in preventing corrosion on copper and brass surfaces.