Abstract
Mild steel protection against acid-related degradation requires corrosion inhibition methods as its primary safeguarding approach. The study evaluated phenylpropanoid compounds of Alpinia galanga as corrosion inhibitors through density functional theory (DFT) calculations to determine their inhibitory effectiveness. This paper conducted studies to determine which parts of the corrosion inhibitors served as active sites while analyzing their inhibiting effects. DFT calculations helped identify the locations where inhibitors acted as active sites. The experimental results demonstrated important distinctions in the total corrosion inhibition ability between the various phenylpropanoids present in Alpinia Galanga compounds. The experimental potentiodynamic polarization tests demonstrated inhibition efficiencies (IE) of 84.33%, 82.36%, and 79.83% for the three compounds, respectively. The tested performance showed a marginally improved result. The research adds to the understanding of medium-scale interactions that occur between phenylpropanoid corrosion protectants and mild steel surface materials. Research findings from this investigation will support improvements in the development of corrosion inhibitors which enhance material protection applications in industries.