The electrochemical behavior of corrosion and passivation for Q235 carbon steel in acidic phosphate buffer solutions without and with NO2-

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mechanism of nitrite (NO2-) for the surface passivation of carbon steels in acidic environments through investigating the influences of 0.01 mol/L NaNO(2)addition on the corrosion and passivation behaviors of Q235 carbon steel in acidic phosphate buffer (APB) solutions (pH 2 to 6). Design/methodology/approach The electrochemical techniques including open circle potential evolution, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were applied. Findings In APB solutions without NO2-, the Q235 steel presented the electrochemical behaviors of activation (A), activation-passivation-transpassivation and self-passivation-transpassivation at pH 2 to 4, pH 5 and pH 6, respectively; the corrosion rate decreased with the up of pH value, and the surface passivation occurred in the pH 5 and pH 6 solutions only: the anodic passivation at pH 5 and the spontaneous passivation at pH 6. Originality/value In APB solutions without NO2-, the corrosion rate decreased with the up of pH value, and the surface passivation occurred in the pH 5 and pH 6 solutions only: the anodic passivation at pH 5 and the spontaneous passivation at pH 6. With the addition of 0.01 mol/L NaNO2, into APB solutions, the variation of corrosion rate showed the same rule, but the surface passivation occurred over the whole acidic pH range, including the anodic passivation at pH 2 to 4 and the spontaneous passivation at pH 5 to 6.