Strain rate effects upon stress corrosion

In addition to examining pre-exposure effects, the slow strain-rate testing technique has been used increasingly to examine and compare the stress-corrosion susceptibility of aluminium alloys of various compositions, heat treatments and forms. A recent extensive review draws attention to differences in response to the various groups of commonly employed alloys which are summarised in Fig. 8.57. The most effective test environment was found to be 3 Vo NaCl -F 0.3 Vo HjOj. The most useful strain rate depends upon the alloy classification. 

Fig. 7.82 Effects of strain rate upon stress corrosion susceptibility of line pipe steel in 79 °C, 2 N CO3/HCO3 solutions at several potentials relative to SHE. Redrawn from Ref 119...

Scully, J.C., Powell, D.T. The effect of strain-rate upon stress corrosion crack velocity in [alphaj-brass in ammoniacal solutions. Corros. Sci. 10, 719 (1970)... 

If crack propagation occurs by dissolution at an active crack tip, with the crack sides rendered inactive by filming, the maintenance of film-free conditions may be dependent not only upon the electrochemical conditions but also upon the rate at which metal is exposed at the crack tip by plastic strain. Thus, it may not be stress, per se, but the strain rate that it produces, that is important, as indicated in equation (8.8). Clearly, at sufficiently high strain rates a ductile fracture may be propagated faster than the electrochemical reactions can occur whereby a stress-corrosion crack is propagated, but as the strain rate is decreased so will stress-corrosion crack propagation be facilitated. However, further decreases in strain rate will eventually result in a situation where the rate at which new surface is created by straining does not exceed the rate at which the surface is rendered inactive and hence stress corrosion may effectively cease. 

Fig. 8.15 Effects of potential upon the stress-corrosion cracking of various steels in CO3-HCO3 solution in slow strain rate tests (after Parkins et al )...

It may be felt that the initiation of a stress-corrosion test involves no more than bringing the environment into contact with the specimen in which a stress is generated, but the order in which these steps are carried out may influence the results obtained, as may certain other actions at the start of the test. Thus, in outdoor exposure tests the time of the year at which the test is initiated can have a marked effect upon the time to failure as can the orientation of the specimen, i.e. according to whether the tension surface in bend specimens is horizontal upwards or downwards or at some other angle. But even in laboratory tests, the time at which the stress is applied in relation to the time at which the specimen is exposed to the environment may influence results. Figure 8.100 shows the effects of exposure for 3 h at the applied stress before the solution was introduced to the cell, upon the failure of a magnesium alloy immersed in a chromate-chloride solution. Clearly such prior creep extends the lifetime of specimens and raises the threshold stress very considerably and since other metals are known to be strain-rate sensitive in their cracking response, it is likely that the type of result apparent in Fig. 8.100 is more widely applicable. 

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