Because of the critical importance to the success of endeavors in aircraft, missile and deep sea submergence industries, stress corrosion cracking is the subject of unprecedented research activity. It is well known that quantitative understanding of processes either in the liquid or solid states comes slowly and only the simplest phenomena are well defined. The problem of stress corrosion cracking is intimately affected by processes operating in the liquid environment, at the surface and within the metal, so it is consequently very difficult to analyze. However, because of the serious consequences of stress corrosion cracking, it is especially important that this phenomenon be defined quantitatively with respect to the effects of stress, temperature, environment and metal.
The purpose of this note is to present and briefly describe Figure 1. This figure is intended to serve as an outline or checklist for those conducting research in stress corrosion cracking. While...