Effect of Cold Work and Processing Orientation on Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Alloy 600

Cold work accelerates stress corrosion cracking (SCC) growth rates in Alloy 600 (UNS N06600). However, the variation in crack growth rates generated from cold-worked material has been significant, and the effect has been difficult to quantify. A study was performed in hydrogenated water adjusted to pH 10.2 to evaluate systematically the effect of cold work on Alloy 600 as a function of temperature, amount of cold work, stress intensity factor, and processing orientation. Cold work was introduced into the material by tensile prestraining or cold-rolling plate product. Crack growth rates were determined between 252°C and 360°C, stress intensity factors between 21 MPa√m and 55 MPa√m, and yield strengths between 201 MPa and 827 MPa. The material with the highest yield strength was cold-rolled and tested in the longitudinal-transverse (LT) and short-transverse (ST) orientations. Crack growth rates increased with increasing temperature, stress intensity factor, and yield strength. Furthermore, crack growth rates were a strong function of the processing orientation in the cold-rolled plate, with growth rates approximately an order of magnitude greater in the ST orientation compared to the LT orientation. Crack growth rates in the LT orientation were measured between 0.003 x 10^–9 m/s and 1.95 x 10^–9 m/s and between 0.066 x 10^–9 m/s and 6.3 x 10^–9 m/s in the ST orientation. Activation energies were slightly greater in the ST orientation, ranging from 154 kcal/mol to 191 kcal/mol, compared to activation energies between 126 kJ/mol and 157 kJ/mol in the LT orientation. Results of this study demonstrated that, although cold work can be used to accelerate SCC, the orientation of crack growth significantly can affect the results and must be taken into account when analyzing data from cold-worked material.