Model of stress corrosion cracking growth of nickel base alloys and stainless steels in high temperature water

For strategic maintenance of the plant components against stress corrosion cracking (SCC) which is a time-dependent degradation phenomenon, the SCC prediction technology is indispensable. This paper presents a kinetic slip dissolution SCC growth model for the technology, which was developed for the nickel-base alloys and stainless steels used in high temperature water of nuclear power plants. The general expression derived from the present model seems to be applicable to all the process from SCC initiation to crack propagation, because both data of the dependency of stress intensity on SCC crack growth and the dependency of stress on SCC initiation life could be rationally explained by the equation based on the SCC model.