The impact of loading rate on chloride induced stress corrosion cracking of 304L stainless steel.

The influence of applied loading rate (dK/dt) on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior in annealed 304L stainless steel immersed in 4.7 M MgCl₂ solution was assessed at varying temperatures from 23 °C to 70 °C. Measured crack growth rates obtained under rising K loading (dK/dt > 0) are compared to those obtained during static K testing. A rising K-based loading protocol was found to yield more conservative crack growth rates across all temperatures, with the variation in crack growth rates (and therefore the dependence in loading rate) decreasing with increasing environmental severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]