An investigation of residual stress, hardness, and texture on stress corrosion cracking in a gas pipeline

Abstract

Stress Corrosion Cracking, SCC, may be a serious problem in gas pipelines. This work studies the hardness and residual stress profiles in two nominally identical sections of adjacent pipe with similar environment and coating, one of which was affected by detectable SCC and the other that was not. The results show changes in texture, residual stress, plastic strain, and hardness at the pipe surface which may be responsible for the altered susceptibility to SCC.