Stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of engineering alloys in acidified seawater

Experiments were conducted to determine the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of various corrosion-resistant alloys which included: 17-4 PH, INCONEL 718 and A286. These alloys were studied for different aging (heat) treatments. Slow strain rate tests (extension rate = 4.7 x 10^-5 mm/s) were performed on each alloy in four different environments; including air and natural seawater acidified with reagent grade hydrochloric acid to a pH of 0.1, 1 and 3. During the experiments, the load versus time and the open circuit potential were monitored. Various parameters such as time-to-failure, energy-to-failure, maximum or failure stress and reduction-in-area were calculated in order to determine SCC susceptibility. Fractography using SEM was conducted to confirm whether any SCC occurred and, if so, to identify its mode (intergranular or transgranular). Limited potentiodynamic studies were also completed to evaluate the passive behavior of these alloys. The results are discussed in terms of the SCC susceptibility and the nature of the cracking. An attempt was also made to correlate alloy microstructure, slow strain rate test parameters and passivation behavior with SCC susceptibility.