The Current Situation in Stress-Corrosion Studies

Abstract

Stress-corrosion cracking has long been recognized as a complex phenomenon. It is a result of the interaction of a number of events that are metallurgical, chemical or electrochemical, and mechanical in nature. Such interaction is highly specific and is achieved with difficulty insofar as stress-corrosion cracking takes place only under certain conditions in certain alloys. The interaction may, however, also have some general features, since stress-corrosion cracking does occur in a wide range of different alloy systems. Notwithstanding the large amount of work carried out on the subject over the last 25 years, it is still a little understood phenomenon. Accurate quantitative predictions of the behaviour of either existing alloys or new alloys cannot be made. In addition, no standardized testing procedure has been developed, nor is there any quantitative index available for comparing and thereby rating the relative susceptibilities of a number of alloys.