Selective Leaching


Selective leaching occurs when a particular constituent of an alloy is removed. Selective leaching occurs in aqueous environments, particularly acidic solutions. Graphitization and dezincification are two common forms of selective leaching. Dezincification is the selective removal of zinc from alloys containing zinc, particularly brass. The mechanism of dezincification of brass involves dissolving the brass with subsequent plating back of copper while zinc remains in solution. Graphitization is the selective leaching of iron or steel from gray cast irons. Selective leaching may be considered a type of corrosion.