A study of pulsed plasma oxidation effects on the corrosion resistance of brass

The plasma oxidation process and the corrosion resistance mechanism of oxidized (α+β) brass (65Cu35Zn) in pulsed dc oxygen plasma and Mattsonʹs solution are reported. The brass was exposed to pulsed DC oxygen plasma with various pulse frequencies. When the brass was exposed to the oxygen plasma, ZnO was identified dominantly in the passive layer and α-brass sublayer was formed because Zn in the (α+β) brass diffused to the surface. These multi-passive layers contribute to the corrosion resistance behavior of (α+β) brass with 92.5% corrosion protection efficiency for the untreated sample. But as input pulse frequency decreases, it becomes more effective in corrosion resistance and has relation with surface behavior in corrosion processing.