A CRITICAL-EVALUATION OF THE STRESS-CORROSION CRACKING MECHANISM IN HIGH-STRENGTH ALUMINUM-ALLOYS

Attempts have been made to elucidate the mechanism of stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) in high-strength Al-Zn-Mg and Al-Li-Zr alloys exposed to aqueous environments by considering the temperature dependence of SCC susceptibility based upon the anodic dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement models. A quantitative correlation which involves the change of threshold stress intensity, K(ISCC), with temperature on the basis of anodic dissolution has been developed with the aid of linear elastic fracture mechanics. From the derived correlation, it is concluded that the threshold stress intensity decreases as the test temperature increases. This suggestion is inconsistent with that predicted on the basis of hydrogen embrittlement. It is experimentally observed from the Al-Zn-Mg and Al-Li-Zr alloys that the threshold stress intensity, K(ISCC), decreases and the crack propagation rate, da/dt, over the stress intensity increases with increasing test temperature. From considering the change in SCC susceptibility with temperature, it is suggested that a gradual transition in the mechanism for the stress-corrosion crack propagation occurs from anodic dissolution in stage I, where the crack propagation rate increases sharply with stress intensity, to hydrogen embrittlement in stage II, where the crack propagation rate is independent of stress intensity.