Environmental Effects on the Cracking of Engineering Materials

Abstract

A material's susceptibility to cracking may be significantly affected by its chemical environment. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC), liquid metal embrittle-ment (LME), hydrogen embrittlement (HE), and corrosion fatigue are examples of environmental effects which cause ductility or endurance losses through environment-assisted cracking (EAC). Under certain conditions, virtually all commercially important materials are susceptible to one or more of the above embrittlement processes. Cracking may occur intergranularly, transgranularly, or in a mixed mode, depending on conditions. Much is known about the metallurgical and environmental conditions which promote environment-assisted cracking, and prudent control of these is often successful in mitigating or preventing cracking. However, in spite of our understanding of the factors controlling SCC, LME, and HE, the responsible mechanisms remain elusive.This article will (1) review some of the important variables affecting these phenomena, such as stress, stress intensity, material microstructure, strain rate, electrochemical potential and pH, and (2) attempt to relate phenomeno-logical characteristics of environment-induced embrittlement to several mechanisms proposed for environment-assisted cracking, as they are understood today.The problem of stress corrosion cracking is unquestionably the most costly of environmental cracking phenomena, with losses occurring in a wide variety of service environments. Liquid metal embrittlement is of concern in nuclear power and other industries. Hydrogen embrittlement, first recognized as an embrittler of iron in 1873, causes cracking problems in applications ranging from welding to oil drilling. In all, the list of situations in which environment-assisted cracking occurs is long and is likely to grow as materials are increasingly challenged by the severity of their service conditions.