A Review of Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Stainless Steel

Abstract Stainless steel is extensively applied in oil and gas, chemical and marine engineering owing to its superior corrosion resistance, mechanical properties and process adaptability. Nevertheless, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) under tensile stress and aggressive corrosive media serves as a critical catastrophic failure risk for structural service. This review systematically summarizes the current research progress on stainless steel SCC, and comprehensively analyzes its failure mechanisms, multi-factor coupling effects and mainstream characterization methodologies. The dominant mechanisms consist of anodic dissolution (including slip dissolution and tunnel corrosion models) and hydrogen-induced cracking (involving hydrogen pressure and adsorbed hydrogen surface energy reduction theories), alongside their synergistic coupling behaviors under complex service conditions. Influencing factors are classified into environmental, material and mechanical aspects, whose combined coupling effects dominate the SCC susceptibility of materials. Moreover, mainstream research methods are elaborated, including mechanical tests (e.g. Slow Strain Rate Test (SSRT)), electrochemical techniques (e.g. polarization curve, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)) and micro-area electrochemical measurements, with distinct advantages of each method clarified in mechanism interpretation and sensitivity assessment. In view of existing controversies and unsolved bottlenecks in current stainless steel SCC research, this review concludes overall research status and provides theoretical references for subsequent in-depth mechanism exploration and industrial corrosion control applications.