Abstract
The characteristics of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are enumerated in the context of a historical sketch of the problem. The roles of pitting and brittle fracture in affecting the behavior of materials in tests of smooth specimens are depicted. The rationale for using fracture mechanics in evaluating crack propagation behavior is given, and a rudimentary composite of the results of smooth specimen tests and crack propagation (“fracture mechanics”) specimen tests is presented. We lack predictive capability with respect to SCC from one chemical environment to another.