Dezincification of brass and its control - An overview

The increasing utilization of sea water as a medium for transportation, communication, energy generation, oil and mineral exploitation and as an industrial fluid. has direct impact on problems associated with the maintenance of marine structures and machinery. Keeping this in mind, numerous investigations on the corrosion behaviour of various metals and their alloys in natural sea water, fresh water, and acid environments have been carried out. The present review deals with the physical and mechanical properties of brass, binary phase diagram of brass, potential pH diagram of brass, types of dezincification and mechanism of dezincification. In recent years, there has been an enormous growth of industries like chemical, electrochemical, etc., near coastal areas. Therefore, this review also looks at the effect of various pollutants on the dezincification process. Investigations on the control of dezincification of brass in various environments like acid, neutral and in the presence of pollutants are also discussed in detail. Finally, the effect of the addition of alloying elements on the reduction of the dezincification process are explained in detail.