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[Display omitted] • Quaternary ammonium copolymers having different hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity are tested as casing and tubing corrosion inhibitors. • Polymeric surfactants with higher hydrophobicity showed better protection potential than surfactants with higher hydrophilicity. • They become effective by adsorbing on the metal surface using their hydrophilic segments, and their adsorption follows Langmuir isotherm. • Polymeric surfactants retards both anodic and cathodic reactions and mainly behave as cathodic-type inhibitors. • DFT study suggests that quaternary nitrogens deprotonate and coordinate with the metallic surface using their unshared electron pairs. In this study, two quaternary ammonium-based copolymers (DAC-DAD10 and DAC-DAD20) with varying hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity are synthesized, characterized, and their capacity to suppress P110 carbon steel (P110 CS) corrosion in 3.5% NaCl is examined. DAC-DAD10 and DAC-DAD20 were synthesized using diallylammonium chloride (DAC) and N1, N1-diallyl-N6-dodecyl-N6, N6-dimethylhexane-1,6-diaminium dichloride (DAD) and their inhibition potential (%IE) and mechanism were studied by different experimental and computational methods. The outcomes suggest that the %IE of DAC-DAD10 and DAC-DAD20 increases on increasing the hydrophobicity as DAC-DAD20, having a large hydrophobic alky chain, showed relatively better %IE than DAC-DAD10. DAC-DAD10 and DAC-DAD20 manifest the best %IE of 88.68% and 96.17%, respectively, at concentrations as low as 3 mgL-1. Potentiodynamic polarization studies indicate that they behave as cathodic-type inhibitors. Their adsorption on the metallic surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Various surface analyses, including SEM-EDS, and XPS, confirm that they adsorb at the metal and electrolyte interface and build a corrosion protective layer. DFT study suggests that quaternary nitrogen atoms easily deprotonate and coordinate with the metallic surface using their unshared electron pairs. The corrosion inhibition based on experimental and computational analyses is schematically presented and described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]