Although most titanium alloys require the presence of a notch or stress concentration in order for them to exhibit stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in neutral aqueous solutions, some, e.g. step-cooled Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V, Ti-8Mn, and Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al do not.1 Crossley, et al,2 originally indicated that Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al is severely embrittled in the presence of aqueous salt solutions. More extensive investigations of the stress corrosion susceptibility of this alloy have been carried out by Beck, et al,3 and Fager and Spurr4 using both smooth and precracked specimens. It was shown that premature failure of smooth specimens depended on strain rate, applied potential, and microstructure. In addition, the stress corrosion cracks observed by the latter investigators generally lay within 7° of the 〈100〉 planes.
This investigation was undertaken to establish the influence of processing history on the stress corrosion susceptibility of Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al with the ultimate aim of decreasing this susceptibility, at least...
