Eco friendly green inhibitor Gum Arabic (GA) for the corrosion control of mild steel in hydrochloric acid medium

Gum Acacia (GA) was evaluated for steel inhibition in acidic medium. Weight loss, EIS, and by polarization potentiodynamic curves were used to test it. GA showed a high efficiency in protecting steel from acid, and found as dependent on its concentration (1.0 g/L). AFM allowed comparing the morphology of steel with GA, which was complemented with XPS spectroscopy, which confirmed the complete adsorption of GA by evaluating the surface film composition. Polarization resistance increases when GA concentration does, based on EIS characterization, indicating the formation of a protective layer whereas PDP results showed that, GA behaves as a mixed-type inhibitor.