Environmentally Assisted Cracking Behavior of Alloy 182 Weld in Sulfuric Acid Solution

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) or environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) behavior of Alloy 182 (UNS W86182) weld in 0.05 M sulfuric acid (H(2)SO(4)) solution was examined. Slow strain rate tests (SSRT) were performed to evaluate the EAC resistances at various applied potentials and strain rates. Experimental results showed that the as-welded Alloy 182 without heat treatment was most susceptible to EAC in the acidic solution at potentials in the active-to-passive transition region. At -300 mV vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE) and -85 mY(SCE), the SSRT results also demonstrated that EAC susceptibility increased with decreasing strain rate in 0.05 M H(2)SO(4) solution. pointing to the involvement of hydrogen in the cracking process.