A LOOK INTO THE FAILURE ORIGINS OF AGE-HARDENABLE ALLOYS IN POWER-PLANT COMPONENTS

A consideration of the effect of sensitizing and stress intensity fact or on stress corrosion cracking of age-hardenable alloys is presented based on the published data and original works. The threshold sensitiv ity of standard testing techniques for sensitizing level evaluation is found to be insufficient for detecting the probability of stress corr osion cracking of a material under high stress. The potentiodynamic re activation method (State Standard GOST 9.914-91) is recommended for th e detecting, and a sensitizing-stress diagram is suggested.