When a material-environment system exhibits an active-passive transition, stress corrosion cracks (SCC) can advance by localised dissolution at the crack tip and remain sharp because passivation of the crack walls prevents lateral dissolution. SCC has been found in high-pressure gas and oil transmission pipelines buried in soils containing ground waters in which the pipeline steels do not show an activepassive transition. The pH values of these solutions are near neutral, pH 7 or slightly lower. In laboratory studies, it has been found that, under these environmental conditions, restricted mechanical loading conditions, either dynamic, continuously straining, or cyclic, are required to induce cracking from initially smooth specimens. It is predominantly the mechanical loading conditions that control the
sharpness of cracks. The original intact linepipe surface is more conducive for cracking than is the polished surface. The corrosivity of the solution, in terms of pH, also affects cracking behaviour.
Keywords: stress corrosion cracking, cyclic stress, near-neutral pH, transmission pipeline steel