Abstract

In mineral processing plants the grinding media, such as balls and rods, are made of steel. In wet grinding, its consump-tion is usually high due to the corrosive components of the grinding medium, therefore steel is classied as a critical input within the process. It is important to investigate how to avoid or minimize the economic impact by consumption of steel in grinding media. For this end, three organic corrosion inhibitors were electrochemically evaluated by linear voltametry and Tafel approximation. Seawater solutions with different concentrations of inhibitors were used for natural seawater pH and pH 9.5. The inhibitor that presents best results under the different conditions of pH and concentration is inhibitor 3, with a loss of average thickness of 0.36 mm/year at natural pH and 0.7 mm/year at pH 9.5.