Selective Leaching

Selective leaching, also called dealloying, demetalification,

parting and selective corrosion, is a corrosion type in some
solid solution alloys, when in suitable conditions a component
of the alloys is preferentially leached from the material.

The less noble metal is removed from the alloy by

microscopic-scale galvanic corrosion mechanism.

The most susceptible alloys are the ones containing metals

with high distance between each other in the galvanic series,
eg. copper and zinc in brass.

The elements most typically undergoing selective removal are

zinc, aluminum, iron, cobalt, chromium, and others.

The most common example is selective leaching of zinc from

some brasses with less than 85% content of copper in presence
of oxygen and moisture.

The Above process of zinc removal is called the

Dezincification.

Countermeasures

Use Alloys which are not susceptible to leach.

Using suitable heat treatment.

Altering the environment (Lowering oxygen

content) .

Use cathodic protection.

Cathodic protection (CP) is a technique to control the

corrosion of a metal surface by making it work as a cathode of
an electrochemical cell.

This is achieved by placing in contact with the metal to be

protected another more easily corroded metal to act as the
anode of the electrochemical cell.

Cathodic protection systems are most commonly used to

protect steel, water or fuel pipelines and storage tanks, steel
pier piles, ships, offshore oil platforms and onshore oil well
casings.

Types

Galvanic CP .

This is achieved by joining the sacrificial anodes with the

metal to be protected from corrosion.

Galvanic or sacrificial anodes are made in various shapes

using alloys of zinc, magnesium and aluminum. The
electrochemical potential, current capacity, and consumption
rate of these alloys are superior for CP than iron.

Impressed current CP .

For larger structures, galvanic anodes cannot economically

deliver enough current to provide complete protection.

Impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) systems use

anodes connected to a DC power source (a cathodic protection
rectifier).

A typical ICCP system for a pipeline would include an AC

powered rectifier with a maximum rated DC output of between
10 and 50 amperes and 50 volts.

Galvanized steel .

Galvanizing (or galvanizing, outside of the USA) generally refers to hotdip galvanizing which is a way of coating steel with a layer of metallic zinc
.

Galvanized coatings are quite durable in most environments because they

combine the barrier properties of a coating with some of the benefits of
cathodic protection.

If the zinc coating is scratched or otherwise locally damaged

and steel is exposed, the surrounding areas of zinc coating
form a galvanic cell with the exposed steel and protect it from
corrosion.

Cathodic Protection