Abstract
A model due to Doig & Flewitt (‘Mechanisms of Environment Sensitive Cracking of Materials’. 1977.p.113 (London: The Metals Society))for the variation of potential in a stress corrosion crack is examined using more general boundary conditions, which include the electrochemical reactions at the crack tip. Analytic solutions have been obtained for situations where the potential drop is small. Under most conditions of potentiostatic control the potential drop down a crack will be small unless the crack is very long. or unless there is a very large currentflowingfrom the crack tip. Under free corrosion conditions the anodic reactions at the crack tip have to be balanced by cathodic reactions on the surface of the specimen in addition to the cathodic reactions on the sides of the crack.
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