A Preface to the Problem of Stress Corrosion Cracking

Abstract

The characteristics of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are enumerated in the context of a historical sketch of the problem. The roles of pitting and brittle fracture in affecting the behavior of materials in tests of smooth specimens are depicted. The rationale for using fracture mechanics in evaluating crack propagation behavior is given, and a rudimentary composite of the results of smooth specimen tests and crack propagation (“fracture mechanics”) specimen tests is presented. We lack predictive capability with respect to SCC from one chemical environment to another.

Stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue

“…There are two opinions concerning the origin of the term "season cracking," and it is not easy now, 100 years after this term was first used [ 16], to judge whether the word "season" referred to (i) the period of the year in which cracking was most prevalent [13,14,[80][81][82] or (ii) the similarity of cracks to those appearing in timber during seasoning [ 16,58,59,71 ].…”