Stress Corrosion Studies on Some Stainless Steels in Elevated Temperature Aqueous Environments^✫ Available to Purchase

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) studies have been conducted on martensitic, ferritic, duplex, and austenitic stainless steels in environments associated with fault conditions in steam supply systems. The environments were aqueous solutions at 316 to 332 C (600 to 630 F) containing additions of Pb, Hg, NaOH, NaCl + O₂ or PO₄³⁻. The specimens were C-rings cut from tubing. The stainless steels were AISI Type 405, AISI Type 410, 18Cr-2Mo-Ti stabilized, a low interstitial 26Cr-1Mo, Sandvik 3RE60, and AISI Type 304. The as-received mill annealed structures were generally the most resistant to SCC. Heat treatment markedly affected the susceptibility of the alloys to cracking with embrittled structures being the most susceptible to cracking. The results are presented as tables and as photomicrographs of the exposed samples.