Effect of residual stress induced by pulsed-laser irradiation on initiation of chloride stress corrosion cracking in stainless steel

The atmospheric corrosion test and residual stress measurement were performed to evaluate the effect of laser irradiation on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation. Second-harmonic Nd:YAG laser pulses (pulse width: 10 ns) were irradiated on a type-304L stainless-steel plate. The specimens were placed in a chamber at 353 K with RH=35% for the corrosion test. When laser energies were 30 and 300 mJ, cracks caused by SCC or pitting were observed on the surface of the specimens. The cracks were classified into two types on the basis of cumulative probability distribution; one of the types is related to the laser irradiation condition. The mean maximum crack depths were about 27 and 52 μm when laser energies were 30 and 300 mJ, respectively. These values were the same as the depth at which the tensile residual stress was induced from the surface of the specimen by laser irradiation. These results suggest that the maximum stress corrosion crack depth was caused by the tensile residual stress induced by laser irradiation, and that the crack stopped propagating when the crack depth was larger than several dozen μm in this test set. When laser pulses of 300 mJ energy were irradiated on the surface of the specimen by shot peening, the tensile stress was induced up to 20 μm from the surface, and the compressive stress was observed at a larger depth. These results show that the laser irradiation is less effective in obtaining tensile residual stress of the specimen compared to when laser pulses are irradiated on the specimen treated by shot peening. The depth of tensile stress obtained by laser irradiation is much shorter than that of compressive stress obtained by shot peening.