Corrosion Behaviors of Zinc in Trichloroacetic Acid

The weight-loss method,polarization curve method and thermodynamic analysis were used to investigate the corrosion behaviors of metallic zinc in trichloroacetic acid (TCA ).The effects of the concentration of TCA and reaction temperature on the corrosion rate of zinc were examined .The corrosion expression were formulated.The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were calculated.The potential and corrosion current density of zinc were derived.The results indicated that corrosion of zinc had an even rate and was activation-controled in the studied concentration range.The relationship between corrosion temperature and rate followed Arrhenius formula,while the relationship between TCA concentration and corrosion rate followed Mathur empirical formula.The corrosion tendency and extent are comparable with those in strong inorganic acid.The corrosion is an exothermic process.Activation energy of cathodic reaction is more than that of anodic reaction from polarization curve measurements.The corrosion process is controlled by cathodic reaction.