Stress corrosion cracking of nickel base alloys in high temperature water

The resistance of nickel base alloys against stress corrosion cracking in high temperature water has been evaluated by measuring the crack growth rates for specific material-environment combinations. For this purpose, fracture mechanics testing techniques have been applied. The materials tested include both, precipitation hardened and solid solution hardened nickel base alloys. The effect of stress intensity on the stress corrosion crack growth rates has been established by measuring complete crack growth curves. In many cases, the effect of stress intensity on the crack growth rate is very small and thus a plateau is observed in the crack growth rate versus stress intensity curves. However, there are clear exceptions to this rule in certain materials and these are pointed out in comparison with data from the literature. The effect of yield strength on stress corrosion crack growth rates has been studied in detail. It is shown how precipitation hardening and particularly how work hardening influence stress corrosion cracking