ISSN: 2319-8753 International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization) Vol. 2, Issue 10, October 2013 Copyright to IJIRSET www.ijirset.com 5467 CORROSIVE BEHAVIOR OF Al, Cu and MS IN DIFFERENT ACIDIC MEDIA Guddi Choudhary 1 , Arpita Sharma 2 , Alka Sharma 3 Ph.D Students, Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (Rajasthan) India 1, 2 Associate professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (Rajasthan) India 3 Abstract: The corrosive behavior of some metals was studied in varying strength of two different acids by employing weight loss method. The experimentation was carried out at room temperature. The effect on corrosion behavior of metals with the change in acidic strength as well as the nature of metal was monitored at different immersion periods. The corrosion parameters were determined with the experimental data. On analysis, at room temperature, HCl (compared to H 3 PO 4 ) was found to be more aggressive towards aluminium as well as mild steel (in comparison to copper). The kinetic parameters were evaluated and discussed. The surface analysis also carried out with the help of Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Optical microscope (OM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Overall the result suggest that corrosion was observed significantly less in H 3 PO 4 acidic medium as compare to HCl medium. Keywords: Metal, Acid corrosion, Corrosion parameters, Kinetic parameters, SEM, EDX, OM, XRF. I. INTRODUCTION Corrosion is a prevailing destructive phenomenon in science and technology. As per literature survey, the cost due to corrosion in many countries is as high as 3-5 % of the GNP i.e. wasteful in terms of economy of any country [1-3]. This represents a huge amount of money which should have been channeled into the provision of basic social amenities in these countries. In practice corrosion can never be stopped but can be hindered to a reasonable level by analyzing of behavior of metals in different environments and by applying various inhibition methods according to their nature. Shaw Barber & A. Kelly [4] and R. R. Pierre [5] determined that metals are usually exposed to the action of bases or acids in the industries in a variety of practical applications such as acid pickling, industrial acid cleaning, cleaning of oil refinery equipment, oil well acidizing and acid descaling. The exposures can be severe to the properties of the metals as well as age of metals also, thus lead to ritual failure of materials in service. A. Objectives There is need to study the corrosion behavior of metals when exposed to various environments, as this is an important factor in material selection. This work examines the corrosion behaviors of some industrially used metals, such as aluminum, copper and mild steel in hydrochloric acid or phosphoric acid. These metals have been a subject of numerous studies due to their high technological value and wide range of industrial applications. Metals: Christian Vargel, et al. [6] reported that Aluminum and its alloys, however, are reactive materials and are prone to corrosion. Copper is characterized by its high electrical and thermal conductivities and good mechanical workability [7]. Mild steel is one of the major construction materials, which is extensively used in chemical and allied industries for the handling of acid, alkali and salt solutions [8-9]. Corrosive Media: Hydrochloric acid is the most difficult of the common acids to handle from the standpoints of corrosion. Extreme care is required in the selection of materials to handle the acid by itself, even in relatively dilute concentrations or in process solutions containing appreciable amount of hydrochloric acid. This acid is very corrosive to most of the common metals and alloys. Where Phosphoric acid prepared by hydrates (wet) processes generate severe corrosion problems in containers. B. Metal dissolution behavior The corrosion behavior of Aluminium, Copper and Mild Steel and their dissolution mechanism in acidic media, viz., HCl and H 3 PO 4 acid at two concentrations (0.5 N-2.0 N) were studied. The experimentations were carried out at room