On the Influence of Internal and External Factors on the Processes of Corrosion-Mechanical Fracture of High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels

Abstract

The article studies the influence of internal and external factors on the process of corrosion-mechanical fracture. It is shown that depending on the conditions of hydrogen charging (temperature and chemical composition of the corrosive medium, type of polarization), the mechanical properties of low-alloy steels change dramatically during the initial period of the experiment. With further increase in the holding time in a corrosive medium without polarization, there is no significant change in mechanical properties. It was found that an increase in the level of applied tensile stresses leads to a reduction in the incubation period of microcracks during hydrogen cracking. It was found that the sensitivity of low alloy steels to cracking is largely determined by the relaxation ability of the structure-the relaxation of residual peak micro-stresses localized at the grain boundaries and substructure boundaries reduces the sensitivity to corrosion-mechanical fracture.