Corrosion Behavior of Extracts of Yam, Maize and Cassava Leaves on Mild Steel in a Selected Media

Investigation of the inhibiting effects of Dioscorea rotundata, Zea mays and Manihot exculenta leaves extracts on the corrosion of mild steel in a selected media using weight loss method was carried out. The mild steel samples were pre-weighed, immersed in mixture of NaOH, NaCl and H2SO4 solutions with the extracts from the leaves and the control samples immersed in solution of the media with no extracts. The samples were allowed to stand for 672 hours and a set of samples from each environment withdrawn at intervals of 168 hours for corrosion characterization. The research findings indicate that the corrosion rate decreased as a result of the leaves extracts introduced into the media thereby confirming that the extracts functioned as effective and excellent inhibitors in the alkaline, salt and acidic media. Among the three plants extracts used, it was observed that Dioscorea rotundata (Yam) has the best inhibition efficiency in both alkaline, salt and acidic media, followed by Manihot exculenta (Cassava) and Zea mays (Maize) which also showed good inhibition efficiency. The results show the very good potentialities of the leaves extracts for application in the mitigation of corrosion in our various manufacturing industries.