This manganese bronze rudder part failed by "plug" type
dezincification. There are large, pink (pure copper) spongy areas that appear to be "attacking" the beta matrix of the two phase, alpha plus beta microstructure. There are three photomicrographs: 50X (top) ... |
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... 200X (middle) |
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... and 500X (bottom). Note the iron-zinc compound "stars." The zinc-rich beta phase corroded first because it had 40% zinc, whereas the alpha only contained 35% zinc. Refer to the copper - zinc phase diagram in Lesson 1. The last specimen in this lesson is another example of stress corrosion cracking. |