Most instances of stress corrosion cracking in both mild and low alloy steels occur in an intergranular mode. Consequently, effects upon the stress corrosion susceptibility of a steel have often been explained in terms of their influence upon the grain boundary regions. The results presented in this paper, however, clearly demonstrate that in the system under investigation the crack initiation process may be controlled by the presence of non-metallic inclusions rather than grain boundaries. This helps to explain the presence of fractures in the segregated regions of turbine discs, the initiation of cracks in high purity steam and the unusual occurrence of transgranular cracking in ferritic alloys.
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References
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ParkinsR. N., Metall. Rev., 1964, 9, 201
2.
LoganH. L., ‘The Stress Corrosion of Metals’, 1966 (New York: Wiley)
