CORROSION OF 70% Cu30%Zn Alloy

Experimental results of
Corrosion rate by weight loss
Corrosion rate by potentiodynamic polarization curve

Omar Farooq 2011906

Muhammad Tahir

Table of Contents
The Experiment.......................................................................................................... 3
The weight loss method.......................................................................................... 3
The potentiodynamic technique..............................................................................4
Results and discussions.............................................................................................. 5
Potentio-dynamic Curve for Cu-Zn alloy in H2SO4 sol.............................................5
Potentio-dynamic Curve for Cu-Zn alloy in NaCl sol................................................6
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 7
Prevention............................................................................................................... 7
Refrences.................................................................................................................... 8

The Experiment
The weight loss method

Sample 1(of 18 g , 1M NaCl sol.) = w= 0.1g

Sample 2(of 16.59 g , 3.5% NaCl sol.) = w= 0.08g

Corrosion rate of sample 1 = (534 x w)/(DAT)

= (534 x 0.1g)/(8.5 g/cm^3 x5.4in^2 x 168hr)
= 0.00692 mil/yr

Corrosion rate of sample 2 = (534 x 0.08g)/(8.5 g/cm^3 x4.99in^2 x 168hr)

= 0.00599

mil/yr

The potentiodynamic technique

The potentiodynamic technique is used to examine the overall corrosion behavior of
Cu-Zn alloy. The Gamery equipment used operates by performing a potentiodynamic scan over a very wide potential range. During the sweep the Cu-Zn alloy
undergoes various electrochemical reactions, resulting in corrosion currents. These
currents are measured and displayed as a graph by the gamery software
Hydrogen evolution occurs at the cathode, resulting in anodic dessolution or
dezincification and uniform corrosion.
Tafel equation gives the parameters that enable understanding of the
potentiodynamic curves,

Results and discussions

Potentio-dynamic Curve for Cu-Zn alloy in H2SO4 sol.

Active, Passive and Trans-passive regions are visible in the curve above.
Proposed Mechanism:

Formation of passivation film

This film is not porous and thus protective. Because of this corrosion of Albrass continuous diminshes

Icorr: 1.45E-08
Ecorr: -2.55E-01
Beta A: 0.0528
Beta C: 0.048

Potentio-dynamic Curve for Cu-Zn alloy in NaCl sol.

The anodic polarization curve is similar to curve in Figure 1 but in this case the
pseudo-passive film was formed. High current density value indicates that this film
is porous and pitting corrosion is possible to occur. A very high increase of current
density at transition from Epit in trans-passive area (Figure 2) shows that the formed
passive film was very weak.

Icorr: 0.000001
Ecorr: -0.3958
Beta A: 0.12
Beta C: 0.12

Conclusion
The obtained electrochemical parameters presented in Table 2 shows that corrosion
rate of CuZn alloy was man times higher in 5 M NaCl solution than in 1M H 2SO4
solution. For both cases (Figures 1 and 2) the anodic potentiodynamic polarization
curves showed a small passive region. This region is termed as "pseudo-passivity".
The corrosion film formed in such a way is not a protective one, but contributes to
the formation and propagation of pitting corrosion of the CuZn alloy. The difference
between values of i is very small for the both of anodic potentiodynamic polarization
curves (Figures 1and 2), and that means that the passive protective layer was not
formed. For the formation of compact homogenous protective passive film, in these
conditions, the value of I must be smaller than obtained.

Dezincification (selective corrosion)

The mechanism of dezincification , the entire alloy is dissolved and later one of its
constituent is re-plated from solution , copper is deposited as a fine copper dust
which zinc is leached out of brass leaving behind a highly porous mass ( zinc has a
high tendency to dissolution while copper has a high tendency to plate.
E Zinc = -0.76 volt , E Copper = 0.33 volt )

Uniform corrosion Greenish corrosion product on surface

Prevention

Use copper alloys with copper content above 85%.

Use brass alloys with tin , arsenic or antimony addition
Avoid environment where the solution becomes stagnant and deposits
accumulate on the metal surface.

Refrences
1. .http://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/uobColeges/ad_downloads/4_10460_432.pdf
2. 10th International Research/Expert Conference
Trends in the Development of Machinery and Associated Technology
TMT 2006, Barcelona-Lloret de Mar, Spain, 11-15 September, 2006
ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF Al-BRASS IN SEAWATER
Loreta Pomenic
Faculty of Engineering
Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka
Croatia