Chapter One: Corrosion Inhibitors—Principles, Mechanisms, and Applications

This chapter covers the engineering aspects of corrosion inhibitors and their effect on corrosion reactions. It explains how different metallic salts and heterocyclic compounds influence chemical reactions on metal surfaces exposed to corrosive media or environments. It describes how to evaluate inhibition efficiency through weight loss measurements, linear polarization resistance tests, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, electrochemical noise monitoring, and surface analysis. It demonstrates the use of potentiodynamic polarization curves, Tafel extrapolations, equivalent circuit models, and various methods for characterizing corrosion damage and protective surface films. It also discusses typical applications, industry trends, and the emerging role of high-throughput experimentation, quantitative modeling, and machine learning in the development of cleaner and more effective corrosion inhibitors.