Improvement of the resistance to stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steels by cyclic prestraining

Austenitic stainless steels are known to be sensitive to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in hot chloride solutions. The aim of the present study is to find improvements in the SCC behavior of 316L-type austenitic stainless steels in 117°C MgCl₂ solutions. Previously, the authors have proposed the “corrosion-enhanced plasticity model” (CEPM) to describe the discontinuous cracking process which occurs in SCC. This model is based on localized corrosion (anodic dissolution, and hydrogen absorption)-deformation (dislocations) interactions (CDI). From the framework of this model, it is proposed that a prestraining in fatigue at saturation decreases the SCC sensitivity. This idea is experimentally confirmed for both crack initiation and crack propagation, through the analysis of the SCC behavior by slow-strain-rate tests of single and polycrystals after different prestraining conditions.