Editorial

Citation

(2005), "Editorial", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 34 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2005.12934faa.001

Editorial

Progression of human society seems to be characterised by an upward, wavy spiral. As such, inevitably, there are points where future and past overlap. For many years, the rapid development of chemical synthesis has been driven by the needs of the society and propelled by the availability of crude oil. However, recent years have seen an increase in the attention towards utilisation of more renewable natural resources, most of which more biodegradable, eco-friendly and less toxic. As a provider of consumer goods, coatings industry, and naturally coatings research and development, have had to respond to such a trend.

Interestingly, less industrialised countries have taken a significant lead in research and development aimed at utilisation of renewable natural products as coatings ingredients, as demonstrated by several papers included in this issue.

Thus, Sethuraman and Bothi Raja reported their investigation on the efficiency of the extract from Datura metel leaves, a plant of abundance in Southern India, as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in acid medium. They concluded that the alkaloids such as scopolamine and atropine, both present in the Datura metel leaves, were effective in inhibiting the corrosion by chemisorption onto the exposed surface of steel panel. Apparently, extracts from other plants such as Eucalyptus, Accacia arabica and Andrographis paniculata had also been shown to be effective corrosion inhibitors. Sethuraman and Bothi Raja also found that the corrosion inhibition effectiveness of Datura metel extract increased with the temperature of the corrosion medium, a consequence, as suggested by the authors, of the predominant, accelerated chemisorption of Datura metel extract onto the metal surface.

Interestingly, Oguzie found that an increase in temperature of the corrosion medium reduced the corrosion inhibition efficiency of the extract from Telfaria occidentalis, a plant widely known as fluted pumpkin belonging to the family of Cucurbitaceae. Oguzie dedicated a significant proportion of his paper to the interpretation of the influence of temperature on the efficiency of corrosion inhibition, from the points of view of adsorption/desorption of the corrosion inhibitors on the metal surface and corrosion activation energy. Such elucidation makes most interesting reading!

Tadros developed a series of formulations containing natural materials, such as green algae, garlic and tubeworms in appropriate forms. The formulations were found to be effective in corrosion inhibition and were characterised by the capability dual protections namely, anti-fouling and inhibition of marine corrosion. Furthermore, it was found that powdered tubeworms acted as a mixed type inhibitor while garlic mainly affected the partial-cathodic process.