Prediction of steel resistance to stress corrosion cracking in seawater based on accelerated tests and structural studies

The paper presents the tests results of resistance of various structural steel classes to SCC in chloride solutions. The experiments were performed using cantilever bending tests developed by NRC “Kurchatov Institute” – CRISM “Prometey” with stepwise increasing load of Charpy-type precracking specimens. The criterion estimation of resistance to SCC when β = σSCC/σC > 0.85 was confirmed by the laboratory test results compared with the case studies of corrosion-mechanical fracture of shipbuilding structures in real life service conditions. A new approach of SCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steels in marine conditions is proposed. It is based on estimation of the critical temperature of SCC when testing for SSRT in a concentrated solution of calcium chloride at temperatures from 20°C to 100°C. Specific features of the structural-phase composition of steels that detrimentally affect the resistance to SCC were discovered during the complex testing.