Portugaliae
Electrochimica Acta

The present work aims to investigate and correlate the wear behavior of electroless Ni-P-W coating under dry and lubricated conditions with the tribological testing parameters. A pin - on - disc configuration test setup is used for the same. Taguchi’s orthogonal design of experiments technique is used to carry out the experiments. Both response surface and fuzzy rule based models are seen to be effective in determining the complex interrelationship between the wear depth of the coatings and the test parameters, namely applied normal load, sliding speed and sliding duration. The coefficient of determination for fuzzy logic based predictions is seen to be higher than the regression predicted ones, indicating better modeling capabilities of the artificial intelligence technique. ANOVA results reveal that the wear depth is mostly influenced by sliding speed followed by applied normal load and sliding duration for both dry and lubricated conditions. Coating composition, phase transformation and microstructure studies are undertaken to analyze their effects on the wear behavior. Abrasive wear mechanism is seen to be the predominating under both dry and lubricated condition. The coatings are seen to suffer more wear under dry sliding condition compared to lubricated environment.

Anodic electro catalysts are developed by using a titanium substrate coated with different compositions of mixed oxides, as it follows: ruthenium-titanium mixed oxides; ruthenium-titanium-tin mixed oxides; and ruthenium-titanium-iridium mixed oxides. The performance of electro catalysts was further evaluated by measuring coating thickness, studying coating morphology with microscope, identifying the presence of RuO2, TiO2, IrO2 and SnO2 in coating film, analyzing shape of individual crystal by XRD, performing accelerated life test and current efficiency test of the selected anode. The coating composition of 15% RuO2, 15% IrO2 and 70% TiO2 exhibited premium properties among the studied anodes.

Enhancement of corrosion inhibition of copper by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) upon application of a square wave potential regime to copper specimens was investigated. The results indicated a marked decrease of copper corrosion rate upon application of a square wave to copper specimens in PVP – containing solutions. The inhibition enhancement was found to increase when increasing PVP concentration, and with a larger time of exposure with application of the square wave potential regime. A 500 Hz frequency was the optimal frequency for promotion of inhibition by PVP. SEM micrographs revealed that application of the square wave converted the dendritic coverage of PVP to a more uniform layer of PVP at copper surface. The enhancement of corrosion inhibition by application of the square wave might be explained on basis of the enhanced adsorption of PVP onto copper surface by application of the square wave potential regime. Application of square wave potential regime apparently influences the PVP adsorption coverage at the copper surface.

This project assessed the technical feasibility of organic matter (COD) removal in livestock effluents, by electrocoagulation. An experimental design was used to block two factors at three levels, to evaluate the effect of the variables distance between electrodes and pH, using aluminum sacrificial electrodes. Maximum removal (90.16%) was obtained at 7 units pH, and 2.0 cm distance between electrodes. This study demonstrated the technical feasibility of electrocoagulation (EC) for the removal of organic matter as COD, present in wastewater from the livestock industry.

Modeling the corrosion inhibition of mild steel in HCl medium with inhibitor of pawpaw leaves extract is presented. The extract was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Thermometric and gravimetric methods were employed in the corrosion inhibition study. The inhibition efficiency was modeled and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). It was observed that the free energy of adsorption (∆Gads) was negative and less than the threshold value of -40 kJ/mol. The adsorption of the extract was spontaneous, and occurred according to the mechanism of physical adsorption. A quadratic model was generated, with optimum inhibition efficiency of 80.29% obtained. The extract was highly efficient in the corrosion control process. It is effective for surface treatment of mild steel in the acid medium. Therefore, it is recommended that pawpaw leaves extract should be employed as corrosion inhibitor in oil well acidizing and surface treatment of mild steel.