Threshold for Stress Corrosion Cracking Initiation of Alloy X750 under Long-Term Uniaxial Constant Load Test in High-Temperature Water Available to Purchase

Uniaxial constant load (UCL) tests of the nickel-based alloy X750 (UNS N07550) were performed in high-temperature pure water (288°C, 8 ppm dissolved oxygen [DO]) to investigate stress corrosion cracking (SCC) fracture time and the crack initiation process. The SCC fracture was initiated at a stress level below the 0.2% offset yield stress and many small cracks were observed in the middle of the nonfractured test specimens. The distribution of the crack length for each observation time is shown by Weibull probability distributions. Crack initiation and propagation process had different behavior depending on the applied stress level and the stress intensity factor at the crack tip. SCC initiation at the minimum applied stress is discussed with respect to the grain size, which depended on the size of an initial crack.