Development of the Laboratory Method of Degradation of Steels for the Evaluation of their Resistance to Corrosion Cracking

We propose an adaptation of the laboratory express method of degradation of low-alloy steels that combines preliminary electrolytic hydrogenation with subsequent plastic deformation of the specimens and leads to the development, under these conditions, of dissipated bulk damage in the material. The proposed adaptation enables one to predict the susceptibility of gas pipeline steels of different strengths (17G1S, Х60 and Х70) to stress-corrosion cracking in model soil solutions. It is discovered that 17G1S steel is not susceptible to stress corrosion cracking in the as-received state but becomes susceptible to it as a result of in-laboratory degradation. However, higher strength characteristics of steels do not necessarily lead to a sharper decrease in the resistance to stress corrosion cracking as a result of degradation.