Investigation of stress corrosion cracking phenomenon on cold-formed reactor

Cracking phenomenon of cold-formed AISI 304 stainless steel was investigated via In-depth microstructural investigation. A reactor of PVC stabilizer was failed due to Cl-SCC. It was observed that only cold-formed part of the reactor(which is cone-shaped upper and bottom part of the reactor) had inner-surface cracks. By analyzing tips of crack via TEM and EBSD, it was revealed strain-induced martensitic transformation provides locally high misorientation regions and those area became preferential crack propagation.