In recent years, commercial products claiming to be rust converters have been marketed and reported to transform non-protective types of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides into more protective oxides. Most are proprietary formulations, but it is generally known that phosphoric and/or tannic acids are frequently used as their main constituents. Since their inception rust converter or rust transformer performance has always been under scrutiny. Research has been done on both phosphoric andtannic acid as a catalyst for rust transformation. Tannic acid is believed by some to cause the transformation of non-protective oxyhydroxides into magnetite. So far, few studies have been done on the performance of the phosphoric-tannic acid mixture, which was planned in this research work. The primary objectives of this work were to study both the mechanisms and degree of protection offered by each of the following
with steel surfaces: (1) phosphoric acid, (2) tannic acid, (3) A mixture of phosphoric and tannic acids, (4) A commercial brand rust transformer. Accelerated weathering testing, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and
infrared spectroscopy (IR) were used in this research. Results of this research indicate that all formulations including the commercial one are ineffective in reducing the corrosion rate when applied on initially cleaned low carbon steel. Initially rusted low carbon steel samples treated with either phosphoric acid or a mixture of phosphoric and tannic acids resulted in the lowest corrosion rates (about 3 mpy) when tested in a simulated weathering chamber.