Development of mechanical tests for stress corrosion and fatigue corrosion studies

Two specific examples are presented to describe the experience gained in the use of mechanical tests for the study of stress corrosion cracking and corrosion-fatigue: 1) the design of tension test platforms and low-frequency fatigue machines, having cross-head displacement rates of the order of 1 μ m/h; 2) the use of curved tension test pieces to take into account heterogeneities of the material microstructure, in the case of cracking phenomena in burried pipelines.