Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Maraging Steel Composites

Laminated plate composites were prepared by hot roll bonding together plates of 18Ni(280) maraging steel and sheets of Armco iron. Composite welds of the same geometry were also prepared by successively depositing weld layers of these two materials. Plane strain stress corrosion tests of these two types of composites in aerated 3.5% NaCl solutions showed that stress corrosion crack propagation was stopped at stress intensities well above the K_ISCC values of the corresponding homogeneous maraging steel base plate and maraging steel weld metal. The results demonstrate that it is possible to retard stress corrosion crack propagation significantly in both base plate and weld structures by the use of a composite approach.