Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

SCC evaluation of type 304 and 316

austenitic stainless steels in acidic
chloride solutions using the slow
strain rate technique
Rokuro Nishimura *, Yasuaki Maeda
Department of Applied Materials Science, College of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University,
1-1, Gakuen-cho, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan
Received 4 August 2003; accepted 29 August 2003

Abstract
The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of the commercial austenitic stainless steels type 304
and 316 was investigated as functions of strain rate, test temperature and pH in acidic chloride
solutions using a slow strain rate technique. From the comparison between the parameters
such as time to failure (tf ), maximum stress (rm ) and strain at tf (ef ) obtained in inert and
W
Cl W
corrosive environments, the relationships between tfCl corrosive=tfW inert, rCl
m =rm and ef =ef
versus strain rate were divided into three regions for type 304 and 316 specimens: the strain
rate-dominated, SCC-dominated and corrosion-dominated regions, respectively. FurtherW
more, it was found that the relationship between tfCl =tfW and rCl
m =rm in the SCC-dominated
region became a good straight line for the type 304 and 316 specimens irrespective of strain
W
rate, test temperature and pH. This suggests that rCl
m =rm became the parameter for predicting
tf . The results obtained were compared with those obtained from the constant load method
and are discussed in terms of the formation of slip steps, dissolution current and lm formation rate.

2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Type 304; Type 316; SCC; Strain rate; SSRT; Acidic chloride solution; Stressstrain curve;
Time to failure; Maximum stress

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81-72-254-9323.

E-mail address: nishimu@ams.osakafu-u.ac.jp (R. Nishimura).

0010-938X/$ - see front matter
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2003.08.001

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R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

1. Introduction
It is well known that the slow strain rate technique (SSRT) provides not only a
useful information on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of the materials
in any corrosive environments, but also a relatively short experimental time to
evaluate SCC susceptibility [1], where a maximum fracture time is that obtained at
the lowest strain rate in an inert environment. For that reason, SSRT has been
widely used for SCC experiments. However, to use SSRT for the SCC experiments,
we need to compare the parameters (time to failure, maximum stress, strain and so
on) obtained in the corrosive environments with those in an inert environment such
as pure water over the wide range of strain rate. In addition, it must be kept in mind
that the specimens are always fractured in both environments, by which in some
cases it would be dicult to judge whether the fracture of the specimens takes place
by SCC or not.
In the present paper the SCC behaviour of the austenitic stainless steels type 304
and 316 was investigated as functions of strain rate, test temperature and pH in
acidic chloride solutions by using SSRT. The objectives of this work were (1) to
evaluate the SCC susceptibility of the materials in the acidic chloride solutions and
(2) to clarify whether or not a parameter for prediction of time to failure can be
found by using SSRT. In addition, the results obtained were compared to those
obtained by using a constant load method under the same experimental conditions.

2. Experimental
The specimens used were the commercial type 304 (yield strength: 304 MPa and
ultimate tensile strength: 657 MPa) and 316 (yield strength: 333 MPa and ultimate
tensile strength: 647 MPa) austenitic stainless steels. The geometry for SCC experiments was as follows; the gauge length 25.6 mm, its width 5 mm and the thickness 1
mm. The chemical composition (mass%) was as follows: type 304; C 0.06, Si 0.60,
Mn 0.96, P 0.030, S 0.008, Ni 8.25, Cr 18.03, type 316; C 0.054, Si 0.67, Mn 1.38, P
0.030, S 0.005, Ni 11.16, Cr 17.21, Mo 2.21. The specimens were solution annealed
at 1373 K for 3.6 ks under an argon atmosphere and then water quenched. Prior to
the experiments, the solution annealed specimens were polished to 1000 grit emery
paper, degreased with acetone in an ultrasonic cleaner and washed with distilled
water. After the pretreatment, the specimens were immediately set into an SCC cell.
The test solutions used were 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution and acidic chloride solutions
with various pHs (a mixture of 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution and 0.82 kmol/m3 NaCl
solution) adjusted by using a pH meter and were prepared from distilled water and
guaranteed grade reagents, where distilled water was used as an inert environment.
The test temperature was used in the range of 333373 K, but mainly 353 0.5 K. All
experiments were carried out under an open circuit condition.
A tensile equipment was an Instron type tensile machine. A cross-head speed was
in the range of 104 to 1 mm/min, but it was converted to strain rate divided by the
gauge length (107 103 s1 ). The specimens were insulated from rod and grip by

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771

surface oxidized zirconium tube. The SCC cell was made of pyrex glass with a
cooling system on the top to avoid the evaporation of the test solution during the
experiments.

3. Results
3.1. Stressstrain curve
Fig. 1 shows a representative example of the stressstrain curves for type 316
specimens at various strain rates in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution at a test temperature
of 353 K. From these curves, we obtained time to failure (tf ), strain at tf (ef ) and
maximum stress (rm ) at each strain rate as the parameters for evaluation of SCC
susceptibility. As the strain rate increased, ef and rm increased, and tf decreased.
Thus, the stressstrain curve at a strain rate of 6.52 103 s1 was almost the same as
that in distilled water. It was conrmed that the behavior of the stressstrain curves
for type 304 specimens under the same experimental condition was almost the same
as that for type 316 specimens in Fig. 1.
3.2. Eect of strain rate
Fig. 2 shows the relationships between the ratio of tfCl to tfW and strain rate for type
304 and 316 specimens, where tfCl is the time to failure obtained in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl
solution and tfW is that in distilled water. The relationships for both specimens were
clearly found to be divided into three regions denoted by the arabic numerals in Fig.
2. The value of tfCl =tfW in region 2 increased linearly with increasing strain rate,
whereas the values in regions 1 and 3 tended to be constant independent of strain

Fig. 1. The stressstrain curves of the type 316 specimens at various strain rates in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl
solution at 353 K.

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R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

Fig. 2. The relationships between the ratio of tfCl to tfW and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens,
where tfCl is the time to failure obtained in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K and tfW is that in distilled
water at 353 K.

rate. The values in region 1 for both specimens became around 100%, showing that
the values of tfCl were almost the same as those of tfW . The values in region 3 for both
specimens became close to zero independent of strain rate. Furthermore, the strain
rate ranges of the three regions for type 316 specimens shifted to a smaller strain rate
by a factor of about 10 than those for type 304 specimens. Fig. 3 shows the relaCl
tionships between the ratio of tm
to tfCl and strain rate for type 304 and 316 speciCl
mens, where tm is the time at which r reaches the maximum stress obtained in 0.82
Cl Cl
kmol/m3 HCl solution (rCl
m ). The values of tm =tf in regions 1 and 2 showed the same
behavior as those in Fig. 2, whereas those in region 3 increased with decreasing strain
rate, where the three regions of the relationships had the same strain rate range as
those in Fig. 2.
W
Fig. 4 shows the relationships between the ratio of rCl
m to rm and strain rate for
Cl
type 304 and 316 specimens, where rm is the maximum stress obtained in 0.82 kmol/
m3 HCl solution and rW
m is that in distilled water. The relationships obtained were
also divided into three regions with the same strain rate ranges as those in Fig. 2. Fig.
W
5 shows the relationships between the ratio of eCl
f to ef and strain rate for type 304
Cl
and 316 specimens, where ef is the strain at tf obtained in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution
Cl W
and eW
f is that in distilled water. The strain rate dependence of ef =ef was the same as
those in Figs. 24, whereas the values of the ratio in region 1 become larger than
100%.
It was evidently found that the strain rate dependence of the parameters (tfCl =tfW ,
Cl
Cl W
rm =rW
m and ef =ef ) was divided into three regions (13). To clarify the meaning of
the three regions in more details, a corrosion rate as weight loss rate at each strain
rate for type 304 and 316 specimens was estimated from a weight loss of the speci-

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773

Cl
Fig. 3. The relationships between the ratio of tm
to tfCl and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens in
Cl
0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K, where tm
is the time at which r reaches the maximum stress obtained
in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution (rCl
m ).

W
Fig. 4. The relationships between the ratio of rCl
m to rm and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens,
3
W
where rCl
m is the maximum stress obtained in 0.82 kmol/m HCl solution at 353 K and rm is that in distilled
water at 353 K.

mens before and after experiment, which was divided by tf at each strain rate. Fig. 6
shows the relationship between weight loss rate and strain rate for type 304 and 316
specimens, where the horizontal dashed lines stand for the weight loss rates for both
specimens at immersion without strain rate under the same experimental condition.
The weight loss rate in region 3 tended to be constant independent of strain rate and

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R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

W
Fig. 5. The relationships between the ratio of eCl
f to ef and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens,
3
where eCl
is
the
strain
at
t
obtained
in
0.82
kmol/m
HCl
solution at 353 K and eW
f
f
f is that in distilled water
at 353 K.

Fig. 6. The relationship between weight loss rate and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens in 0.82
kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K, where the dotted lines stand for the weight loss rates for both specimens at
immersion without strain rate under the same experimental condition.

became almost equal to that without strain rate. This means that general corrosion
predominantly takes place, but not SCC in region 3. Even if a crack is formed, the
decrease in the cross-sectional area by crack propagation would be inferior to or
become equal to that by general corrosion. Therefore, region 3 is called the corrosion-dominated region. The results in Figs. 24 show that the specimens in region 1

R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

775

are mechanically broken and hence region 1 is called the strain rate-dominated region. Finally, the fracture of the specimens in region 2 takes place by SCC, which
region is called the SCC-dominated region. The meaning of the three regions will be
described in more details in the latter section.
Cl
Furthermore, Fig. 7 shows the relationships between rCl
m and tf for type 304 and
3
316 specimens at various strain rates in 0.82 kmol/m HCl solution with a test
W
temperature of 353 K, where the dashed line is the relationship between rW
m and tf at
various strain rates in distilled water. The relationships for both specimens were
divided into three regions and the stress ranges of rCl
m in the three regions were the
same as those obtained by using the constant load method under the same experimental conditions [2], where the three regions obtained from the constant load
method were called the stress-dominated, SCC-dominated and corrosion-dominated
regions, respectively. This result suggests that the SCC susceptibility of type 304 and
316 specimens obtained by using SSRT would be equivalent to that by using the
constant load method. On the other hand, rW
m held constant independent of the
materials (type 304 and 316) and tfW . This shows certainly that the fracture behavior
of the materials in the distilled water was the same independent of strain rate.
3.3. Eects of pH and test temperature
W
Fig. 8 shows the pH dependences of tfCl =tfW and rCl
m =rm at a strain rate of
5 1
6.52 10 s in the SCC-dominated region for type 304 specimens and at a strain
rate of 6.52 106 s1 in the SCC-dominated region for type 316 specimens. These

Fig. 7. The relationship between rm and tf for type 304 and 316 specimens at various strain rates in 0.82
kmol/m3 HCl solution and distilled water at 353 K, where the open and solid circles are the relationship
Cl
3
between rCl
m and tf at various strain rates in 0.82 kmol/m HCl solution at 353 K, and the open and
W
and
t
at
various
strain rates in distilled water at 353 K.
triangles are the relationship between rW
m
f

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R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

W
5 1
Fig. 8. The pH dependences of tfCl =tfW and rCl
s for type 304 specimens
m =rm at a strain rate of 6.52 10
and at a strain rate of 6.52 106 s1 for type 316 specimens in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K.

ratios for both specimens increase linearly with increasing pH, and begin to level o
at a pH of around pH 0.7 for type 304 specimens and at about pH 0.9 for type 316
specimens. These results imply that no SCC takes place above pH 0.7 for type 304
specimens and above pH 0.9 for type 316 specimens.
W
Fig. 9 shows the test temperature dependences of tfCl =tfW and rCl
m =rm at a strain
5 1
rate of 6.52 10 s for type 304 specimens and at a strain rate of 6.52 106 s1 for
type 316 specimens in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution. The relations between tfCl =tfW and
W
1=T , and rCl
m =rm and 1=T became good straight lines for both specimens in a range of
test temperature conducted, showing that SCC takes place.
3.4. Fracture appearance
Fig. 10 shows a representative example of the fracture appearance of the type 304
specimens at a strain rate of 6.52 105 s1 in the SCC-dominated region in 0.82
kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K. It was clearly found that the fracture appearance
was transgranular. The same fracture appearance was observed for that of type 316
specimens in the SCC-dominated region.

R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

777

W
5 1
Fig. 9. The test temperature dependences of tfCl =tfW and rCl
s for type
m =rm at a strain rate of 6.52 10
304 specimens and at a strain rate of 6.52 106 s1 for type 316 specimens in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution.

Fig. 10. The fracture appearance of the type 304 specimens at a strain rate of 6.52 105 s1 in the SCCdominated region in 0.82 kmol/m3 HCl solution at 353 K.

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4. Discussion
4.1. A parameter for prediction of time to failure
In this section, consider whether a parameter for prediction of tf is found or not
W
by using SSRT. Fig. 11 shows the relationships between tfCl =tfW and rCl
m =rm obtained
as functions of strain rate, pH and test temperature for type 304 and 316 specimens,
which were replotted from those in Figs. 2, 4, 8 and 9. It was found that in the
W
maximum stress ratio (rCl
m =rm ) range of 2085%, which corresponds to that in the
SCC-dominated region, the relationships for type 304 and 316 specimens became
the straight lines with a slope of approximately 0.6 irrespective of strain rate, pH and
test temperature. Furthermore, the straight line for type 304 specimens was identical
to that for type 316 specimens and was expressed as
W
Cl W
rCl
m =rm % 0:6  tf =tf 26

W
Cl
Cl
W
W
Thus, rCl
m =rm becomes a parameter for predicting tf , in a sense that rm , rm and tf
Cl
could be obtained prior to getting tf . However, as shown in Fig. 3, the value of
Cl Cl
tm
=tf varies from 20% to 85% with strain rate in the SCC-dominated region as well
as pH and test temperature; that is, rCl
m is obtained at a time of 2085% of tf . This

W
Fig. 11. The relationships between tfCl =tfW and rCl
m =rm obtained as functions of strain rate, pH and test
temperature for type 304 and 316 specimens, which were replotted from those in Figs. 2, 4, 8 and 9.

R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

779

implies that the time for prediction of tfCl is changeable in the range of 2085% of tfCl .
On the other hand, the time for prediction of tf using the steady state elongation rate
(lss ) is a time in the range of 1020% of tf irrespective of applied stress, test temperature and pH [2,3].
4.2. Estimation of critical pH and critical test temperature
On the basis of the results obtained, we try to estimate the critical values of pH
and test temperature for type 304 and 316 specimens, below or above which little
W
SCC takes place. From Figs. 4 and 8, the value of rCl
m =rm between the SCCdominated and the strain rate-dominated regions is almost the same with about 85%
and constant for type 304 and 316 specimens irrespective of strain rate and pH in
W
comparison to that of tfCl =tfW . Therefore, when the value of rCl
m =rm reaches 85%, which is
called the critical maximum stress ratio, it is estimated that no SCC takes place. Fig. 12

W
Fig. 12. The relationship between rCl
m =rm and pH at various strain rates for type 304 and 316 specimens,
where the straight lines at other strain rates are assumed to be drawn with the same slope as those of the
straight lines obtained at 6.52 105 s1 for type 304 specimens and at 6.52 106 s1 for type 316
W
specimens, and the dashed lines show the critical ratios of rCl
m =rm for both specimens, at which the critical
)
can
be
obtained.
pH at each strain rate (pHss
cri

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W
shows the relationship between rCl
m =rm and pH at various strain rates for type 304
and 316 specimens, where the straight lines at other strain rates are assumed to be
drawn with the same slope as that of the straight line obtained at 6.52 105 s1 and
W
the dashed lines show the critical ratios of rCl
m =rm for both specimens. From Fig. 12,
we can obtain pH, which is called a critical pH at each strain rate (pHss
cri ), at which
W
the value of rCl
=r
reaches
the
critical
maximum
stress
ratio.
m
m
Fig. 13 shows the relationships between pHss
cri obtained at each strain rate and
strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens, where the solid and open circles show the
values obtained experimentally and these triangles the values estimated from Fig. 12.
The relationships became a straight line. The lowest strain rates in the SCC-dominated region were approximately 4 106 s1 for type 304 specimens and 1 106 s1
for type 316 specimens from Figs. 25, respectively, below which no SCC takes place.
Therefore, the pH at the lowest strain rates for type 304 and 316 specimens becomes
the critical pH (pHcri ), above which no SCC takes place at any strain rates. Consequently, pHcri is obtained for type 304 and 316 specimens as follows:

pHvqi 1:4

for type 304

pHcri 1:3 for type 316

These pHcri for type 304 and 316 specimens were approximately the same as those
(pHcri 1:8 for type 304 and pHcri 1:2 for type 316) estimated from the results obtained by using the constant load method under the same experimental conditions [3].
In a similar manner, we can estimate a critical test temperature (Tcri ). Fig. 14 shows
W
the relationship between rCl
m =rm and a reciprocal of test temperature at various strain
rates for type 304 and 316 specimens. From Fig. 14, we can obtain a critical test

Fig. 13. The relationships between pHss

cri obtained at each strain rate and strain rate for type 304 and 316
specimens, where the solid and open circles show the values obtained experimentally and these triangles
the values estimated from Fig. 12.

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781

W
Fig. 14. The relationship between rCl
m =rm and a reciprocal of test temperature at various strain rates for
type 304 and 316 specimens, where the straight lines at other strain rates are assumed to be drawn with the
same slope as those of the straight lines obtained at 6.52 105 s1 and at 6.52 106 s1 for type 316
W
specimens, and the dashed lines show the critical ratios of rCl
m =rm for both specimens, at which the critical
r
) can be obtained.
test temperature at each strain rate (Tcri

r
W
temperature at each strain rate (Tcri
), at which the value of rCl
m =rm reaches the critical
r
maximum stress ratio. Fig. 15 shows the relationships between Tcri
obtained at each
strain rate and strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens, where the solid and open
circles show the values obtained experimentally and these triangles the values estimated from Fig. 14. The relationships became a straight line. In the same way, the
test temperature at the lowest strain rates for type 304 and type 316 specimens becomes the critical test temperature (Tcri ), below which no SCC takes place at any
strain rates. Consequently, Tcri is obtained for type 304 and 316 specimens as follows:

Tcri 294 K

for type 304

Tcri 292 K

for type 316

These Tcri for type 304 and 316 specimens were dierent from those (Tcri 270 K for
type 304 and Tcri 283 K for type 316) estimated from the results obtained by using
the constant load method under the same experimental conditions [2].

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r
Fig. 15. The relationships between Tcri
obtained at each strain rate and strain rate for type 304 and 316
specimens, where the solid and open circles show the values obtained experimentally and these triangles
the values estimated from Fig. 14.

4.3. Meaning of the three regions and SCC mechanism

In general, the behaviour of stress (r) in the stressstrain curve for the materials is
qualitatively considered as follows [4]; the increase in r with strain takes place due to
strain hardening and after r reaches rm , the eect of the reduction in cross-sectional
area becomes superior to strain hardening. As a result r begins to decrease with
strain and drops rapidly to zero in the vicinity of the fracture of the specimens. This
would be basically applied to those in the stressstrain curves for type 304 and 316
specimens in acidic chloride solutions and distilled water. Furthermore, Takano [5]
and Takano and Totsuka [6] has pointed out that the rate determining step of SCC
of an austenitic stainless steel in MgCl2 solutions corresponds to the formation of
slip steps at low strain rates and to a corrosion process on the slip steps at higher
strain rates. Therefore, we discuss the meaning of the three regions and the SCC
mechanism in terms of formation rate of slip step, reduction in cross-sectional area
and corrosion process which includes dissolution and lm formation.
First of all, we consider the meaning of the three regions (strain rate-dominated,
SCC-dominated and corrosion-dominated) in more details. In the strain rateCl
Cl
dominated region, the maximum stress (rCl
m ), time to failure (tf ) and strain (ef )
obtained in acidic chloride solutions were almost the same as those in distilled water,
W
Cl W
from the maximum stress ratio (rCl
m =rm ), time to failure ratio (tf =tf ) and strain ratio
W
(eCl
=e
).
This
means
that
the
fracture
of
the
specimens
took
place mechanically.
f
f
Even if the cracks were formed, the reduction in cross-sectional area by the increase
in strain was superior to that by crack propagation. In other words, in order that the
formation rate of slip steps becomes very fast by the high strain rate, the reduction in
cross-sectional area takes place mechanically independent of corrosion process at the

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783

interface between environment and specimen surface (or crack tips). However,
W
considering that only the value of eCl
f =ef becomes more than 100%, it may be reasonable that the corrosion process (metal dissolution current) aects the magnitude
of strain (eCl
f ) through the injection of defects into the slip steps, which would accelerate a dislocation movement and hence lead to the increase in the formation rate
of slip steps [7]. On the other hand, in the corrosion-dominated region, the strain rate
becomes very low, so that the reduction in cross-sectional area would be subjected to
general corrosion, not crack propagation, especially in the aggressive solution such
as the HCl solution; that is, the formation rate of slip steps becomes less than the
general corrosion rate, which means that the specimens have little mechanical eect
such as strain rate. This is supported from the fact that the corrosion rate in the
corrosion-dominated region is the same as that without strain rate as shown in Fig.
6. In the SCC-dominated region, the cracks are nucleated at slip steps emerged by
strain and propagate to lead to SCC. In this case, the crack propagation would take
place predominantly by the synergistic eect between the corrosion process at crack
tips and the slip steps formed by strain. However, the reduction in cross-sectional
area by crack propagation would be inferior to strain hardening and hence r inCl
creases with increasing strain up to rCl
m . After reaches rm , the reduction in crosssectional area caused by the increase in strain and crack propagation would be
superior to strain hardening and then lead to the decrease in r.
On the basis of the above considerations, we consider qualitatively a transgranular SCC mechanism, which is basically the same as that proposed to explain the
results obtained by using the constant load method [8]. It is assumed that a cyclic
lm rupture-formation event takes place with a time interval of Dt and the lm
rupture occurs when a local stress at crack tips (rtip ) reaches a critical fracture stress
(rf ), where rtip consists of rinert formed in the distilled water and rcorrosion formed by
corrosion process, rtip rinert rcorrosion . In the distilled water, although rtip is equal
to rinert (rcorrosion 0), rinert can be increased up to rf by the application of strain rate.
This may suggest that the lm rupture takes place and the lm formation immediately proceeds with a very high lm formation rate by a small amount of dissolved
oxygen until the next lm rupture occurs, although the ductile fracture occurs predominantly in the distilled water [9]. In this case, Dt would be inversely proportional
to strain rate; the larger strain rate, the smaller Dt, and vice versa. Here, it should be
noted that the increasing rate of rinert depends upon only strain rate, but not upon
the environmental conditions. On the other hand, in the corrosive environment, a
metal dissolution in conjunction with lm formation can take place and cause the
injection of defects into dislocation pile-ups, which are formed when the movement
of slip steps is inhibited by lm formed at crack tips [8]. This would generate rcorrosion
in addition to rinert and as a result the time at which rtip reaches rf would become
shorter in comparison to that in the distilled water. Therefore, an increasing rate of
rcorrosion would increase with increasing the aggressiveness of the environments, while
that of rinert could increase with the increase in strain rate, and vice versa.
In the corrosion-dominated region, the increase in rinert becomes very slow because
of very low strain rate, so that rtip would take a long time to reach rf , even with the
help of the increase in rcorrosion . In the case of the aggressive solution such as the HCl

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R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

solution, before rtip reaches rf , the reduction rate of the cross-sectional area would be
superior to that by crack propagation. Therefore, the strain hardening eect and the
W Cl W
increase in strain by strain rate would become very small and hence rCl
m =rm , tf =tf and
Cl W
ef =ef become close to zero. In contrast to that in the corrosion-dominated region, in
the strain rate-dominated region, the increase in rinert becomes very high because of
very high strain rate, so that rtip would reach rf at a very short time, even without the
help of the increase in rcorrosion and consequently little dierence in fracture behavior
between the inert and corrosive environments would be observed.
In the case of the SCC-dominated region, the increase of rtip causes by the increase in rinert and rcorrosion . Under a constant strain rate condition, the increase of
rtip takes place by the contribution of the increase in rcorrosion in addition to that in
rinert , where the increasing rate of rinert keeps constant independent of the environment conditions. Therefore, the time for rtip to reach rf would become shorter and
shorter with increasing the aggressiveness of the environments such as the decrease in
pH, the increase in test temperature and so on. On the other hand, under a constant
environment condition, the increase rate in rtip would be predominantly subjected to
the increase rate in rinert with strain rate. However, even if the environments are
constant, the increase in strain rate would lead to the increase in the formation rate
of slip steps corresponding to the decrease in Dt, which means that an average
corrosion current at crack tips would increase with increasing strain rate and as a
result also the increase in rcorrosion would occur with the increase in strain rate.
Furthermore, we could explain the dierence of the SCC susceptibility between
type 304 and 316 on the basis of the above considerations, where the SCC susceptibility of type 316 becomes lower than that of type 304. It is generally considered
that type 316 has the higher corrosion resistance than type 304, in a sense that a
highly corrosion-resistant lm on type 316 is formed or its formation rate (repassivation rate) is higher compared to type 304. As described above, the increase rate in
rcorrosion depends upon the magnitude of the corrosion current at crack tips; the
higher the corrosion current, the higher the increase rate in rcorrosion , and vice versa.
This suggests that type 316 needs to have higher strain rate than type 304, in order
that the corrosion current of type 316 becomes the same as that of type 304. This is
supported from the results obtained, which show that the strain rate range of SCC
for type 316 becomes higher by a factor of about 10 than that for type 304.

5. Conclusions
W
Cl W
(1) The maximum stress ratio (rCl
m =rm ), time to failure ratio (tf =tf ) and strain ratio
Cl W
(ef =ef ) obtained as a function of strain rate for type 304 and 316 specimens were
divided into three regions, the strain rate-dominated, SCC-dominated and corrosion-dominated regions, respectively.
W
Cl
(2) The maximum stress ratio (rCl
m =rm ) became the parameter for prediction of tf ,
W
Cl W
since the relationship between rCl
=r
and
t
=t
became
the
straight
line
as
exm
m
f
f
pressed below, irrespective of strain rate, pH, test temperature and the materials
(type 304 and 316),

R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda / Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 769785

785

W
Cl W
rCl
m =rm % 0:6  tf =tf 26

(3) The critical pH (pHcri ) and the critical test temperature (Tcri ) for type 304 and 316
specimens were estimated as follows:
pHcri 1:4

for type 304

pHcri 1:3

for type 316

Tcri 294 K for type 304

Tcri 292 K for type 316
(4) The meaning of the three regions and SCC mechanism were discussed in terms of
slip steps, dissolution and lm formation.

References
[1] G.M. Ugiansky, J.H. Payer (Eds.), Stress Corrosion CrackingThe Slow Strain Rate Technique,
American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, 1979.
[2] R. Nishimura, K. Kudo, Corrosion 45 (1989) 308.
[3] R. Nishimura, Corrosion 46 (1990) 311.
[4] G.E. Dieter, Mechanical metallurgy, second ed., Materials Science and Engineering Series, McGrawHill, 1976, pp. 330331.
[5] M. Takano, Corrosion 30 (1974) 441.
[6] M. Takano, N. Totsuka, Corrosion 36 (1980) 36.
[7] B. Gu, W.-Y. Chu, L.-J. Qiao, C.-M. Hsiao, Corros. Sci. 36 (1994) 1437.
[8] R. Nishimura, Y. Maeda, Corros. Sci., in press.
[9] p. 277 in Ref. [4].