In this study, commercial AA5083 aluminum alloy was sensitized at 175oC in order to create a
two-phase microstructure that is highly susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). To
characterize the SCC behavior of these sensitized AA5083 alloy in NaCl solution, open circuit
continuous immersion SCC tests were conducted on pre-cracked double cantilever beam
(DCB) specimens with an initial stress intensity factor (KI) of 15 ksi √in (16.5 M Pa √m ) in NaCl solutions with five different concentrations, i.e. 0.01, 0.1, 0.6, 1, and 3 mol/L. Three SCC
characteristics, incubation time, initial crack growth rate, and total crack growth, were found
strongly dependent on solution concentration: incubation time decreased with increasing NaCl
concentration, while both initial crack growth rate and total crack growth increased with
solution concentration. A linear relationship between initial crack growth rate and NaCl
concentration, as well as between total crack growth and NaCl concentration, was also found
on specimens sensitized for 10 days (240 hours). Since the growth of cracks under fixed
loading line displacement decreases the applied K, the arrest of cracks that limits the total
crack growth may be interpreted as a concentration dependent threshold stress intensity,
KISCC. Fracture surfaces produced by SCC in NaCl solutions with different concentrations and
on different values of K, when investigated by scanning electron microscopy, all demonstrated
intergranular cracking with similar characteristics. Discussion centers on relative contributions
to SCC from mechanical driving forces and chemical driving forces.
Keywords: SCC, NaCl, concentration, KISCC