Stress relaxation cracking (SRC) is a failure mechanism known to occur in austenitic stainless steels and nickel alloys operating at moderate to high temperatures.   

Typically, SRC failures tend to occur under the following conditions: ^1-6  1. Susceptible material: 800H, 347H, 617, etc. (typically materials with low creep ductility)  2. High residual stresses: Hardness > 200 HV (welded thick section) 3. Specific temperature range: usually between 500 °C (932 °F) and 750 °C (1382 °F). 

Under these conditions, component stresses are relieved by time dependent inelastic deformation.3 In susceptible materials, this process occurs by intergranular cracking and is essentially a creep mechanism.^2-6 In this respect, materials with low creep ductility tend to be prone to this type of damage mechanism. On the other hand, materials that have good creep ductility can tolerate the inelastic strains due to relaxation without cracking.³