Crack-growth occurs discontinuously in oriented copper-gold single-crystals during slow-strain rate experiments performed under anodic polarization in aqueous NaCl solutions. Crack advance between major crack arrests is accompanied by load-drops and current-transients which can be quantitatively related to the length of the advance as well as yielding the average instantaneous rate of advance. Two independent but self-consistent methods are used: (1) mechanical analysis of the load-drops, taking into account the elastic displacement of the load-train and of the specimen, due to both the load and the crack advance, and (2) analysis of the current-transients in which it is argued that the current is proportional to the rate of new surface production. Results show that the crack velocity is on the order of 50-400μm/s, depending on the environment and potential, too slow to be explained by a running brittle crack, and too fast to be explained by Faradaic dissolution.

Subject
Electric current, Crack growth, Yield stress, Dislocation, Corrosion cracking, Stress cracking, Shear, Crack velocity, Plastics, Electric potential, Slip, Cracks, Stress corrosion cracking
Keywords:
Stress-corrosion, Crack-growth, Single Crystals, Cleavage
© 1994 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1994
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
You do not currently have access to this content.