Rising Displacement Stress Corrosion Cracking Testing

Abstract

Fracture-mechanics-based test and evaluation techniques provide insight into the phenomenon of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and help to develop guidance for avoiding or controlling SCC. In addition to constant load and constant deflection tests, techniques that are based on rising load or rising displacement procedures are applied increasingly in fracture mechanics SCC testing. Rising displacement tests on precracked specimens were used for studying hydrogen embrittlement (HE) and to serve as a basis for modeling material degradation caused by the uptake of atomic hydrogen from the environment. The measurements of the crack-tip opening angle and of the crack-tip opening displacement combined with crack growth velocity data served to rationalize the experimental findings by comparison with the results of simulations of HE using various models.