Understanding the Corrosion Behaviour of Steel Under Alternate Oil/Water Wetting with Different Oil Viscosities

Abstract The corrosion behaviour of steel under alternate wetting conditions with various oil viscosities was investigated by an “alternate wetting cell”, combined with electrochemistry measurements, wetting angle measurements, and molecular dynamics simulation. Under static conditions, corrosion was mitigated more efficiently with an increase of viscosity, because a large static friction force between high-viscosity oil and the steel surface prolongs the oil film lifetime and oil wetting time. Under dynamic conditions, the effect of oil viscosity on the corrosion and wetting behaviour of carbon steel was not dominated in comparison to that of the static conditions.