Concepts in preventing the early stages of aqueous stress-corrosion cracking

Abstract

Environmently induced crack growth generally progresses through several stages prior to component failure, including crack initiation, short-crack growth, and stage 1 growth. The importance of understanding early stages derives from the extended time that cracks exist in the early stages because crack velocity is slow. This slow crack growth provides an opportunity for preventing the transition into long cracks. Several important factors about short-crack behavior can be used to lessen the impact of stress-corrosion cracking: life prediction requires a knowledge of the total life cycle of the crack, including the early stages; greater reliability is possible if the transition between short-and long-crack behavior is known, because component life after this transition is short; and preventative actions are more effective for short cracks rather than long cracks.