Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

Stress corrosion cracking of gas pipelines EVect of

surface roughness, orientations and Xattening
Peter Kentish

School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus,
Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia
Received 20 February 2006; accepted 2 December 2006
Available online 28 December 2006

Abstract
The primary corrosion mitigation of the external surface of high pressure steel gas pipelines is
protective coatings with secondary protection usually by cathodic protection. Adhesion and resistance to cathodic disbondment of the coating is critical for its integrity and grit blasting is an important process in achieving this adhesion. The eVect of surface roughness, from grit blasting, on the
intergranular stress corrosion cracking resistance of X70 gas pipelines was investigated using slow
strain rate testing in carbonate/bicarbonate solution at 75 C. The eVect of orientation of test pieces
with respect to the axial direction of pipes was also investigated.
Time to failure ratios decreased with increasing surface roughness indicating reduced stress corrosion cracking resistance. The reduced resistance to cracking with increasing roughness would be predominantly associated with stress concentration eVects related to the surface roughness resulting
from the grit blasting. Crack concentration decreased with increasing roughness, which is likely to be
associated with the concentration of surface damage from the grit blasting using varying sized grit.
As formed pipe surfaces, with no grit blasting, resulted in some of the lowest time to failure ratios
and hence some of the lowest resistances to stress corrosion cracking. These also showed some of the
deepest cracks. The inXuence of roughness and residual stresses on threshold stress is currently being
investigated.
Time to failure ratios indicated a greater resistance to stress corrosion cracks for circumferentially
orientated test pieces compared to those longitudinally orientated. Whilst further testing would be
required for conWrmation, the current results suggest that Xattening the test pieces had only a minor, if
any, eVect on stress corrosion cracking susceptibility as measured by slow strain rate testing to fracture.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tel.: +61 8 83023109; fax: +61 8 83025082.

E-mail address: peter.kentish@unisa.edu.au

0010-938X/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2006.12.014

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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

Keywords: A. Steel; C. EVect of strain; C. Stress corrosion; C. Alkaline conditions; C. Cathodic protection

1. Introduction
Stress corrosion cracking has been attributed to many engineering failures, some of
which have resulted in loss of life and others in signiWcant economic losses. In 1845 a
boiler explosion in a cotton mill resulted in its complete demolition and killed ten people
[1]. In Scaramanga, Athens, Greece, 1985, a Xoating concrete dry dock for cargo ships,
buckled and rose like a balloon before bursting. The dock was destroyed at a then cost of
US$60 million. The failure was attributed to stress corrosion cracking of the steel tendons used as anchor piles to Wx the dock to the seabed [2]. Stress corrosion cracking of
stainless steel supports for an indoor swimming pool in Switzerland caused its collapse
on to swimmers below [3]. An explosion of a steam turbine at Hinkley Point was caused
by caustic cracking where large segments of metal were thrown for distances up to 1 km
[4].
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) associated with pressure vessels have been experienced for many years with a failure of a steam boiler thought to be associated
with stress corrosion cracking approximately one century ago. The environment associated with boilers is typically alkaline, an environment supporting stress corrosion cracking of steel. Even though intergranular stress corrosion cracking of steel in alkaline
environments was known, its presence was not predicted in gas pipelines prior to the
1965 stress corrosion cracking initiated fracture of a natural gas pipeline near Natchitoches, Louisiana, resulting in 17 deaths [5]. By 1978 three countries; USA, USSR and
Iran, had recorded gas pipeline failures, which were attributable to stress corrosion
cracking [6]. During 1981 Australia experienced its Wrst gas pipeline failure as a result of
stress corrosion cracking [7,8] and since then, several other failures have occurred in
Australia. More recently transgranular stress corrosion cracking has been reported
[9,10].
There is a large amount of literature available on stress corrosion cracking of gas pipelines and the inXuence of surface features on stress corrosion cracking has been reported to
varying levels of detail [1116]. The inXuence of grit blasting is often reported as being beneWcial to stress corrosion cracking resistance, however there are conXicting results. Since
coatings are applied to pipelines, as their major source of corrosion protection, grit blasting is usually necessary to provide adequate adhesion, with a class 2 grit blast [17] often
speciWed in Australia. A research programme was undertaken to investigate the inXuence
of surface roughness and residual stresses on stress corrosion cracking resistance. This
paper explores the eVect of surface roughness on stress corrosion resistance as measured by
slow strain rate testing.
Intergranular stress corrosion cracking of high pressure gas pipelines occurs most commonly as a result of hoop (circumferential) stresses due to internal operating pressures and
results in longitudinally orientated cracks. Stress corrosion testing of pipelines, usually on
long test pieces, is most commonly performed in the axial direction of the pipe to avoid
introducing strains associated with straightening circumferential sections of pipe. However, this introduces the complication of possible anisotropy of steel properties, from both
pipe forming and steel making.

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2523

2. Materials
The stress corrosion cracking resistance was measured on new pipes that complied with
American Petroleum Institute (API) grade X70 with all the pipe lengths being manufactured from steel of the same heat number with the same nominal diameter of 406 mm and
wall thickness of 8.5 mm. The surface of the pipes had been coated with a clear lacquer,
which had in part deteriorated, resulting in slight corrosion of the surface. The compositions of the Wve pipes were virtually identical, with a typical analysis of 0.08%C, 1.59%Mn,
0.3%Si, 0.001%S, 0.013%P, 0.03%Ni, 0.01%Cr, 0.025%Al, 0.015%Ti, 0.04%Nb, 0.05%V and
0.05%Ti. The tensile properties were also similar with average properties being; 510 MPa
proof strength (0.2%), 580 MPa tensile strength and 36% elongation.
3. Procedure
3.1. Blasting, sample designation and roughness
Production grit blasting was performed with variables to achieve a range of surface
roughness levels whilst maintaining a 22 class grit blast. The grit used was virgin martensitic steel of various size fractions (LG50, LG40 and LG25). Grit blasted surfaces are
reactive and to prevent deterioration the pipes were all coated with a minimum 150 m
thickness of mastic, applied at approximately 205 C, followed by a minimum 1 mm thickness of extruded polyethylene.
Longitudinally orientated test pieces, approximately diametrically opposite the seam
weld were machined from the un-blasted area of one pipe. The machining was performed
such that the original external steel surface was not altered and the external surfaces were
grit blasted to varying levels of surface roughness. Two of these un-blasted test pieces were
shot peened using cast steel shot with a size fraction of 1.00, +0.59 mm.
For comparison, test pieces were machined from an un-blasted area of one pipe for evaluating the stress corrosion cracking resistance in the as pipe formed condition. One test
piece revealed the presence of mill scale whilst a second sample revealed some red/brown
corrosion products.
The surface roughness of the actual test pieces was measured in the longitudinal orientation, immediately prior to Wxing the sample into the stress corrosion cracking test cell,
using a calibrated Mitutoyo Surftest 211 ProWleometer. Multiple scans were taken in several areas of each sample with averages calculated. The surface roughness measurement
used was the arithmetic mean, Ra, departure of proWle from a mean line. Typical proWles of
a range of roughness values are shown in Fig. 1. The proWles showed that the radius of the
valleys was similar but the depths varied. As expected the rougher surfaces had deeper valleys, which were more widely spaced.
3.2. Test piece preparation
All the samples for testing were longitudinally orientated with a geometry shown in
Fig. 2. The polyethylene coating on the production grit blasted samples was maintained
throughout the entire sample preparation procedures and only removed prior to measuring surface roughness and Wxing into the cell. Since the testing was to measure the relative
time to failure and only the grit blasted surface was to be evaluated all other exposed

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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

profile height [m]

20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

distance [mm]

profile height [m]

40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

distance [mm]
Fig. 1. Surface proWles of grit blasted surface with a of Ra roughness of (a) 8.9 and (b) 12.7 m.

7.8

60

50

18

7*

25*

thickness 5.00mm *
*

tolerance 0.025 mm

Fig. 2. Test piece geometry for evaluating the inXuence of surface roughness on stress corrosion cracking resistance.

surfaces were masked from the test environment. All the machined surfaces were dry grit
blasted, coated with a primer, placed in a polyethylene mould and covered by castable
polyurethane. The eVectiveness of the masking was evaluated by a trial test and this
revealed cracking from only the exposed surfaces, with no cracking observed from the
polyurethane coated surfaces.
To investigate the inXuence of orientation and Xattening of the curved samples, short
test pieces were prepared that were the same as Fig. 2 except the gauge length was 10 mm.

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2525

Duplicate samples were prepared to determine their tensile properties and stress corrosion
cracking resistance. All samples used to evaluate orientations and locations were machined
from the un-blasted regions of an X70 pipe, with minimal machining to produce a Xat
10 mm gauge length. The grip ends were Xattened by plastic deformation. To evaluate the
eVect of plastic strain from Xattening, the test pieces with the external surface intact were
Xattened and then machined a minimum amount to remove surface scale. Metallography
revealed similar microstructural features for the plastically deformed and machined samples. No decarburisation was detected in the samples. The exposed surfaces were all surface
ground using a 46 grit grinding wheel. Only the outer surface was exposed during testing
with the other surfaces masked by castable polyurethane.
3.3. Slow strain rate testing
The masked samples were tested in a 1 N sodium carbonate plus 1 N sodium bicarbonate solution at 75 C, a potential of 650 mV (SCE) and an approximate strain rate of
7 107 s1 using a 3 electrode cell. The time to failure, the number of cracks per centimetre and the crack depths were measured. From the raw data, the time to failure ratio (ratio
of time to failure in the carbonate/bicarbonate solution to that in oil) and average crack
depths were calculated. Decreasing time to failure ratios indicated reduced resistance to
stress corrosion cracking.
4. Results
4.1. EVect of surface roughness
The variation of the time to failure ratios with surface roughness for all grit blasted
samples and laboratory grit blasted samples in isolation are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. Superimposed on these graphs are the results of the shot peened and as formed samples. The variation of crack concentrations and average crack depths with surface
roughness are shown in Figs. 5 and 6 respectively.

grit blasted

90

shot peened
TTF ratio [%]

85

as formed
Linear (grit blasted)

80
75
70
y = -1.38x + 92.4
R2 = 0.27

65
60
5

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Fig. 3. EVect of roughness, Ra, on time to failure for all grit blasted samples. Note the surface roughness is not relevant to the as formed samples.

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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

90

TTF ratio [%]

85
grit blasted

80

shot peened
75

as formed

70

Linear (grit blasted)

y = -1.50x + 94.7
R2 = 0.56

65
60
5

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

roughness, Ra [m]

cracks/cm

Fig. 4. EVect of roughness on time to failure for laboratory blasted samples. Note the surface roughness is not relevant to the as formed samples.

65
60
55
50
45

y = 0.3x2 - 9.3x + 99.7

R2 = 0.80

grit blasted
shot peened

40
35
30
25
20

as formed
Poly. (grit blasted)

10 11

12 13 14 15 16

Fig. 5. EVect of roughness on crack concentration, laboratory blasted samples. Note the surface roughness is not
relevant to the as formed samples.

350
300
prod. blasted
250

lab. blasted

200

shot peened
as formed

150
100
5

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Fig. 6. EVect of roughness on average crack depth. Note the surface roughness is not relevant to the as formed
samples.

The cracks in the necked region of the test pieces were wide mouthed due to the extensive plastic deformation subsequent to the initiation and the majority of propagation. The
tip of these cracks had typical intergranular crack morphology (Fig. 7). Outside the necked

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2527

Fig. 7. Etched section of a grit blasted sample at the crack tip in the necked region.

region of the test pieces the cracks were narrower at the mouth and some tended to be orientated at approximately 45 to the surface in the subsurface areas whilst other cracks in
the same area were relatively perpendicular to the surface, on a macroscopic scale, up to
the crack tip. The tip of these cracks was typical of branched stress corrosion cracks with
an intergranular morphology. Metallographic examination of the shot peened samples
revealed that the surface was much smoother, having a more undulating appearance, than
the grit blasted samples.
4.2. EVect of orientation and Xattening
The results of the tensile testing on the non standard sized test pieces machined from
diVerent positions and orientations of the sample pipe are shown in Table 1 whilst Table 2
gives the results for the slow strain rate tests.
Table 1
InXuence of location, orientation and Xattening on tensile properties
Samplea

Orientation

Flattened

Elastic limit
(MPa)

Tensile strength
(MPa)

Elongation
(%)

190
1180
290
2180
390
3180

Circumferential
Circumferential
Circumferential
Circumferential
Longitudinal
Longitudinal

Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

490
485
485
490
465
480

600
600
620
615
590
590

58
60
53
53
61
60

90 and 180 refers to 90 and 180 from seam weld respectively.

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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

Table 2
InXuence of location, orientation and Xattening on stress corrosion cracking resistance
Samplea Orien

Flatb TTF
Elastic UTS Fracture Elong Cracks Crack depths (m)
ratio (%)c limit (MPa) stress
(%)
per cm
Min Max. Ave. Standard
(MPa)
(MPa)
deviation

190
290
2180
390
3180

Yes
No
No
No
No

a
b
c

Circumferential
Circumferential
Circumferential
Longitudinal
Longitudinal

85
87
93
82
80

415
435
415
395
415

550
540
540
530
530

505
415
400
390
410

41
45
52
52
50

212
147
157
162
200

10.1
10.2
10.6
10.3
10.0

48.9
125.6
144.6
113.2
126.4

19.8
33.0
38.8
35.1
41.4

7.9
24.2
32.0
22.7
25.2

90 and 180 refers to 90 and 180 from seam weld respectively.

Xattened during sample preparation of circumferential test pieces.
TTF time to failure ratio.

5. Discussion
The time to failure ratios decreased with increasing surface roughness (Figs. 3 and 4),
which was more evident when considering the laboratory grit blasted samples in isolation.
The equations describing the linear trend lines were similar, however the trend was stronger
when considering only the laboratory grit blasted samples. The data for the production grit
blasted samples showed greater variability than the laboratory blasted samples and this
resulted in less a distinct trend when considering all grit blasted samples. The greater control
associated with laboratory grit blasting of 60 mm gauge lengths, compared to production
blasting 7 m lengths of 406 mm diameter pipes, would contribute to the more distinct trends.
The decreasing time to failure ratios with increasing roughness indicated reduced resistance
to stress corrosion cracking. It is likely that the samples with greater levels of roughness
would give rise to additional stress concentration eVects as well as more extensive embedded
scale. The results of Fig. 4 suggest that there was no signiWcant detrimental eVect on time to
failure ratios up to a roughness of approximately 11 m Ra. However once this roughness
was exceeded the time to failure ratios decreased at a greater rate. The stress concentration
factors associated with the roughened surfaces may be similar, if not higher, than corrosion
pits, where Beavers et al. [13] stated that 0.25 mm wide pits, 0.65 m deep, had a stress concentration of approximately 2.1. However it would be expected that the closer proximity of
surface irregularities for grit blasted surfaces, compared to corrosion pits, may interact,
reducing the overall eVect. Li et al. [18] investigated the eVect of multiple indentations and
found that the stress concentration was relaxed by approximately 20% as a result of surrounding shot peened dents. Whilst this work involved the smoother shot peened surfaces,
similar, but probably less, relaxation would be expected for the grit blasted surfaces due to
the greater angularity and extent of the roughness. Arola and Williams [19] investigated the
relation between stress concentration and roughness of abrasive water jet machined surfaces
of 4130 steel and found that roughness levels of 2, 4 and 6 m Ra gave stress concentrations
of approximately 1.4, 1.9 and 2.4 respectively for the ArolaRamulu model.
The time to failure ratios for both shot peened samples were near the grit blasted trend
line for all samples (Fig. 3) and the laboratory blasted samples (Fig. 4). Metallography
showed that the shot peened surfaces were much smoother, having a more undulating
appearance, than the grit blasted samples. It would be expected that any stress concentrating eVects would be less than that of the grit blasted samples. However the stress corrosion

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2529

cracking resistance would also be expected to be inXuenced by residual stress levels. The
crack concentration for both the shot peened samples were below the grit blasted trend line
for all samples and the laboratory blasted samples. This was consistent with the appearance of the shot peened surface where there were less numerous and more rounded surface
roughness features and hence less potential initiation sites, which were of reduced severity.
The crack concentrations showed a decreasing trend with increasing roughness (Fig. 5).
The laboratory blasted samples tended to show no further signiWcant reduction in crack
concentration with increasing surface roughness after a Ra of approximately 11.5 m (Fig. 5).
This value of Ra was similar to the 11 m suggested above for a distinct change in time to
failure ratio trends. Beavers et al. [13] indicated that pitting can have a signiWcant detrimental inXuence on stress corrosion cracking resistance via the inXuence on stress concentration.
They also reported an increase in crack concentration with increased pitting. With respect to
stress concentration eVects, a similar situation may exist for the roughened grit blasted surfaces with diVerences in crack concentration being a result of the concentration of surface
damage, whether derived from grit blasting or pitting. Fig. 1 showed that grit blasting to
produce a less rough surface by using smaller grit sizes, resulted in more closely spaced and
generally shallower surface damage, but with a similar sharpness of the roughness proWles.
Hence the possibility of increased crack initiation sites but not all of these shallow cracks
may propagate. This is complicated by the variation in the power to the grit blaster to
achieve diVerent roughness levels. Leis and Colwell [15] stated that greater concentrations of
cracks tended to lead to crack dormancy whilst more sparsely spaced cracks tended to
encourage propagation. Given this, it follows that the rougher surfaces with the lower crack
concentrations may result in reduced stress corrosion cracking resistance.
The crack depths were relatively shallow, being less than 10% of the sample thickness
and this may have resulted in a time to failure ratio being insuYciently discriminatory to
show strong trends. The plastic straining, which occurs during the majority of the slow
strain rate test, will have a signiWcant inXuence on the initiation and propagation of stress
corrosion cracks. Whilst this straining will be the same for all samples tested, and therefore
have a similar contribution to the results, its inXuence may dominate any surface features,
such as surface roughness. Threshold stress measurements are likely to be more discriminatory and are currently being investigated. However, even though there are short comings in
the slow strain rate test, the results show that for the less rough surfaces there was a trend
of greater resistance to stress corrosion cracking.
Both stress concentration and compressive residual stresses from grit blasting are likely
to contribute to stress corrosion cracking behaviour. Koch et al. [20] commented that
residual stresses from grit blasting were not as signiWcant as the removal of mill scale and
its eVect on potential holding characteristics. The greater amounts of embedded scale in the
rougher grit blasted samples is consistent with Koch statement and may contribute to the
lower resistance to stress corrosion cracking at higher levels of roughness. However it
should be emphasised that testing using potentiostatic control, the potential holding characteristics of mill scale is not as signiWcant as with areas under disbonded coatings for pipelines being cathodically protected.
The crack concentrations of the un-blasted samples were as low as some of the grit
blasted samples (Fig. 5), however once the cracks initiated they propagated to greater depths
than most of the grit blasted samples (Fig. 6). Of the two un-blasted samples, that which had
red corrosion products on the surface revealed the largest crack depths and this may be
an inXuence of the surface features, such as pitting, as they eVect stress concentration.

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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

As stated earlier, Beavers et al. indicated that pitting can have a signiWcant detrimental inXuence on stress corrosion cracking resistance. The stress concentration as a result of a 65 m
deep pit can increase the local stress by a factor of up to 3 [13].
There were no signiWcant trends between crack depths and surface roughness (Fig. 6).
This may be a consequence of insuYcient discrimination of the slow strain rate test method.
With the time to failure ratios decreasing with increasing roughness and no apparent relation between roughness and crack depth, it is suggested that the diVerences in time to failure
ratios was inXuenced by the initiation and growth of small stress corrosion cracks. The
severity of the slow strain rate test was likely to contribute to the lack of discrimination
between samples on the basis of crack depth, particularly when the stresses exceeded the
yield strength and the cracks being less than 10% of the sample thickness. As a result threshold stress measurements are being undertaken to evaluate the eVect of surface roughness.
There were only minor diVerences in the ambient temperature tensile properties of the
pipe sample with respect to their location around the circumference. Similarly the inXuence
of plastic deformation caused by Xattening the circumferential test pieces and that of test
piece orientation had little eVect upon the tensile properties. The non Xattened circumferential test pieces reported a reduced ductility compared to the Xattened samples. However
caution is required in the interpretation as to the inXuence of the short (10 mm) gauge
length on the elongation results. The elastic limit and tensile strengths of the longitudinally
orientated samples were marginally lower than the circumferential test pieces. The slightly
lower elastic limit of the longitudinal test pieces was considered to be within the accuracy
of estimating the yield strength by use of the elastic limit. However it was consistent with
the slightly lower tensile strengths.
The time to failure ratios of the longitudinally orientated samples (circumferential
cracks) were lower than the circumferential samples (Fig. 8), suggesting a reduced stress
corrosion cracking resistance for longitudinally orientated samples. Since stress corrosion
cracking in service is most commonly longitudinally orientated, this would suggest
the resistance would be greater in the normally encountered in service cracking direction
compared to that determined with the majority of laboratory testing, which usually utilise
longitudinal samples.
250
circumferential,
flattened
200

circumferential, not
flattened

150

circumferential, not
flattened

100

longitudinal, not
flattened

50

longitudinal, not
flattened

0
TTF (%)

cracks/cm

max. crack
depth
[microns]

average crack
depth
[microns]

Fig. 8. EVect of orientation and Xattening on stress corrosion cracking.

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2531

There also tended to be a slightly greater crack concentration in the longitudinally orientated samples compared to the circumferential orientation. The crack depths showed
only minor diVerences with no obvious trends between the longitudinal and circumferential orientation in the non Xattened condition (Fig. 8).
Flattening a circumferential sample prior to testing showed a very small reduction in the
% time to failure ratio compared to its non Xattened counterpart (Fig. 8). The crack concentration in the Xattened condition was greater than that of non Xattened samples; both
circumferential and longitudinal orientations. Whilst this indicated increased crack initiation it is questionable if it indicated greater propagation and stress corrosion cracking susceptibility. The greater number of cracks may become non propagating due to interactions
with adjacent cracks and may indicate initiation and not propagating characteristics. Leis
and Colwell [15] stated that dense, closely spaced cracks in service tended to dormancy
whilst the sparsely spaced cracks tended to propagate. This was consistent with the reduced
maximum crack depth whilst having a greater crack concentration for the Xattened sample
compared to non Xattened sample. The results tend to indicate that the strain from Xattening did result in a greater numbers of cracks, which either propagated slowly or not at all.
However the time to failure did not appear to be signiWcantly eVected. A similar trend
existed between crack concentration and maximum crack depth when comparing circumferential and longitudinally orientated samples, with the latter having a greater crack concentration but lower maximum crack depth.
The elastic limits and the tensile strengths from the slow strain rate tests showed
only minor diVerences when considering the inXuences of location, orientation and prior
plastic strain due to Xattening. These values were predictably less than that obtained
from testing in air at ambient temperature and faster strain rates (Fig. 9). One of the circumferential test pieces showed a higher % elongation proportion, which was consistent
with its highest time to failure ratio. The % elongation of the other 3 non Xattened test
pieces was similar. Flattening did not appear to have a signiWcant eVect on the change in
elastic limit and tensile strengths but a greater decrease in % elongation was recorded.
Reduced ductility may suggest increased susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking for the
Xattened samples, however this was not signiWcantly reXected by the time to failure ratio.
The short gauge lengths required for the testing would have a detrimental eVect on the
accuracy of % elongation. It must be emphasised that testing was on a small number of
samples.
circumferential,
flattened

% property

100.0
90.0

circumferential, not
flattened

80.0

circumferential, not
flattened

70.0

longitudinal, not
flattened

60.0

longitudinal, not
flattened
elastic limit

tensile
strength

%elongation

Fig. 9. Tensile properties from the slow strain rate SCC tests as a percentage of testing in air (from Tables 1 and 2).

2532

P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

6. Conclusions
1. Slow strain rate testing of API X-70 gas pipelines revealed that the time to failure ratios
decreased with increasing surface roughness from grit blasting, indicating reduced resistance to stress corrosion cracking. The reduced resistance to stress corrosion cracking
with increasing surface roughness was likely to be associated with the stress concentration eVect of the grit blasted surfaces.
2. The crack concentrations decreased with increasing surface roughness and this may be
related to the concentration of surface damage and hence potential initiation nucleation
sites for cracks. Not all of these cracks may propagate due to interactions between
cracks.
3. There was no apparent trend between crack depth and surface roughness.
4. As formed pipe surfaces, with no grit blasting, resulted in some of the lowest time to failure ratios and hence some of the lowest resistances to stress corrosion cracking. These
also showed some of the deepest cracks.
5. Threshold stresses may result in improved discrimination compared to slow strain rate
testing to fracture and therefore may provide clearer trends between stress corrosion
cracking resistance and surface roughness. This is currently being evaluated. The eVect
of residual stresses is also being researched.
6. The time to failure ratios indicated a greater resistance to stress corrosion cracks, for the
steel tested, in circumferentially orientated test pieces compared to those longitudinally
orientated. Since laboratory testing is most commonly performed on longitudinal test
pieces, the subsequent results may indicate lower stress corrosion cracking resistance
than those associated with longitudinally orientated cracks in service.
7. Whilst further testing would be required for conWrmation, the current results suggested
that Xattening the test pieces had only a minor, if any, eVect on time to failure ratios
from slow strain rate testing and hence stress corrosion cracking susceptibility. However, this testing is severe and may not detect small diVerences.
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the assistance provided by the Coatings Task Force of the
Australian Gas Association.
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P. Kentish / Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 25212533

2533

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