Mechanical aspects of corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion cracking

The theory of fatigue crack growth based on the synthesis of fracture mecha nics and continuum damage mechanics is applied to the prediction of crack g rowth under cyclic and/or sustained loading in the presence of the aggressi ve environment. Several aspects of corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion c racking are discussed from the viewpoint of mechanics: the interaction betw een the damage produced by mechanical and nonmechanical actions and its eff ect on the fatigue crack propagation; the prediction of the behavior of cra cks which shape and size are given more than by a single parameter such as the crack depth; the transfer of the agent within a crack affected by the c rack growth and crack "breathing" under cyclic loading. The final results a re presented in the form of diagrams illustrating the history of crack size s, damage measures, stress concentration factors near the tips, and the cra ck growth rates in function of the principal load and environment parameter s. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.