Life prediction on SCC of solution annealed stainless steels under laboratory conditions Original Research Article

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of austenitic stainless steels, types 304 and 316 has been investigated in acidic solutions to verify whether or not a parameter for prediction of time to failure can be detected as functions of applied stress and environmental factors (temperature, concentration, pH, anion species) by using a constant load. The results show that the steady state elongation rate becomes a parameter for predicting time to failure at a time within 10–20% of time to failure irrespective of the above factors. The steady state elongation rate is also found to become a parameter for the assessment of SCC susceptibility. On the basis of the results obtained, a SCC mechanism is discussed in terms of corrosion current density at crack tips, time to failure and length of crack propagation. The SCC mechanism proposed can be applied to both active path dissolution model and film rupture model.