About Corrosion

All about corrosion science and engineering

Environmental cracking – Definition

by

NACE/ASTM G193

Environmental cracking or environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) is the cracking of a material wherein an interaction with its environment is a causative factor in conjunction with tensile stress [author’s note: tensile stresses can be applied and/or residual], often resulting in brittle fracture of an otherwise ductile material.(1)

Example

Environmental cracking of low alloy steel UNS G41400 (AISI 4140)
Environmental cracking of low alloy steel UNS G41400 (AISI 4140) in 50 g/l NaCl + 4 g/l sodium acetate (CH3COONa) saturated with high purity H2S gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure

References

  1. ASTM NACEASTM G193-12d “Standard Terminology and Acronyms Relating to Corrosion, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2003, DOI: 10.1520/G0193-12D, www.astm.org.

Updates

February 8th, 2017: added example micrograph.