Acid violet 6B as a novel corrosion inhibitor for cold rolled steel in hydrochloric acid solution

Research highlights: → Acid violet 6B (AV6B) is found to be a good inhibitor for the corrosion of CRS in 1.0 M HCl. → Effects of hydrochloric acid concentration (1.0 - 5.0 M) and immersion time (2 - 144 h) are discussed in detail. → The corrosion inhibition is satisfactorily discussed by both thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. → AV6B acts as a mixed-type inhibitor. → The adsorption of AV6B obeys Langmuir adsorption isotherm. - Abstract: The inhibition effect of acid violet 6B (AV6B) on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 1.0-5.0 M HCl solution was studied for the first time by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. The results show that AV6B is a very good inhibitor in 1.0 M HCl, and the adsorption of AV6B on CRS surface obeys Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Polarization curves reveal that AV6B behaves as a mixed-type inhibitor. EIS spectra exhibit one capacitive loop and confirm the inhibitive ability. Effects of immersion time and acid concentration on inhibition performance were also discussed.