Historical Review of Alloy 600 Stress Corrosion Cracking: From the “Coriou Effect” to the Quantitative Micro-Nano Approach

Abstract

Historical views on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of nickel-based alloys in light water nuclear power plants include the first cracks observed on Alloy 600 in pure water at 350°C by Henri Coriou in 1959. Extensive progress in the understanding of SCC of nickel-based alloys is underlined with the quantitative micro-nano approach proposed by Roger Staehle: atomistic and molecular simulations together with crack observations and dedicated experiments using tracers (deuterium and oxygen 18) lead to an intergranular oxidation mechanism with a possible influence of hydrogen.