Stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel in supercritical pressurized water dissolved with different hydrogen and oxygen contents

• The deformation behavior of the steel is independent to the test conditions.
• The effect of dissolved hydrogen and oxygen on the fracture behavior is negligible.
• The steel shows no stress corrosion cracking in the test conditions.
• Crack development model of the steel in the test conditions is proposed.

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility was investigated by means of steady strain rate tests for a 15Cr–4Al–2W oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steel in supercritical pressurized water (SCPW) dissolved with different hydrogen (DH) and dissolved oxygen (DO) contents. All the specimens exhibit ductile fracture mode, regardless of the strain rate. The effect of DH and DO on the fracture behavior is negligible. Small cracks were observed at necking region but most of the cracks were identified as “corrosion layer cracking” by cross-sectional observation. The ODS ferritic steel shows no susceptibility to SCC in SCPW at this experimental conditions.