Sensitized stainless steels exhibit intergranular stress-corrosion cracking susceptibility in hightemperature and high purity-water environments with oxygen dissolved at certain levels. Non-sensitized stainless steels have been noted to display slight susceptibility to intergranular stress-corrosion cracking under such conditions but the factors involved are not fully understood. This paper discusses the metallurgical factors to be responsible for the susceptibility of non-sensitized stainless steel to intergranular stress-corrosion cracking in a high-temperature, high-purity water environment. The experimental results show that the amorphic CaS phase precipitated on grain boundaries as films is the major material factor for the susceptibility to appear, and that the Laves phase precipitated on grain boundaries tends to mitigate the susceptibility as well. Furthermore, the tendency was clearly seen that the higher austenite stability clearly increases the susceptibility of material to intergranular stress-corrosion cracking.
Keywords: stainless steel, stress-corrosion cracking, high-temperature and high-purity water environment, sensitization, Laves phase, calcium sulfide, grain boundary, austenite stability