Dezincification definition

Pitting may be defined as a limiting case of localised attack in which only small areas of the metal surface are attacked whilst the remainder is largely unaffected, and this definition is applicable irrespective of the mechanism involved dezincification, crevice corrosion and impingement attack can all result in pitting, although the mechanisms of these three processes are quite different. 

Addition of about 0 04% arsenic will inhibit dezincification of a brasses in most circumstances and arsenical a brasses can be considered immune to dezincification for most practical purposes . There are conditions of exposure in which dezincification of these materials has been observed, e.g. when exposed outdoors well away from the sea , or when immersed in pure water at high temperature and pressure, but trouble of this type rarely arises in practice. In other conditions, e.g. in polluted sea-water, corrosion can occur with copper redeposition away from the site of initial attack, but this is not truly dezincification, which, by definition, requires the metallic copper to be produced in situ. The work of Lucey goes far in explaining the mechanism by which arsenic prevents dezincification in a brasses, but not in a-/3 brasses (see also Section 1.6). An interesting observation is that the presence of a small impurity content of magnesium will prevent arsenic in a brass from having its usual inhibiting effect . 

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