Relativity between corrosion-induced stress and stress corrosion cracking of brass in an ammonia solution

The susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of brass in an ammoniasolution with various pH values or under various applied potentials was measured at slow strain ratetests. The additive stress in the same solution was measured using two methods. The resultsindicate that the variation of the susceptibility to SCC with pH value or with potential is in anexcellent agreement with the corrosion (passive film or dezincification layer)-induced stress. WhenpH >= 7, the corrosion-induced tensile stress and the susceptibility to SCC have maximum values andhardly change with increasing the pH value. However, when pH <7, both the corrosion-induced tensilestress and the susceptibility to SCC reduce rapidly with decreasing the pH value. Both thecorrosion-induced tensile stress and the susceptibility to SCC have maximum values at theopen-circuit potential, decrease slightly under the anodic polarization, and reduce gradually tozero under the cathodic polarization.