Stress corrosion cracking behavior of warm forged 316L stainless steel at different orientations

Abstract

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of ∼20% warm forged 316L stainless steel (SS) round bar was evaluated for different cracking orientations relative to the applied deformation in hydrogenated and oxygenated high purity water at 325 °C. Different SCC crack growth rates (CGRs) obtained at three orientations demonstrates that the L-R orientation where cracking occurred in the plane of deformation has the highest SCC susceptibility, while the C-L orientation where cracking was oriented to run along the forging direction has the lowest SCC susceptibility. The anisotropic cracking behavior of warm forged 316L SS at different orientations, which is prominent in hydrogenated water, depends highly on the distribution of lamellar plastic strains that are produced during deformation in different planes.