Role of Viscosity on Capillary Flow and Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior

It is documented that the viscosity has a significant effect on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior in terms of the K-da/dt relation. In order to better understand the role of viscosity and its effect on transport of aqueous solution to the crack tip due to capillary action at the crack tip, experiments were conducted using a glass-metal setup. The confined space between the crack-mouth faces was simulated using wedge-type geometry between a glass slide and 7475 aluminum plate. The space between the glass and aluminum crevice was carefully controlled using spacers. The effect of viscosity was modeled using water, glycerin, and its mixture. According to our best knowledge, this article presents the first simple model of experimental simulation of the capillary flow phenomenon with a goal of arriving at a better understanding of how the viscosity affects the SCC behavior. Experimental results of several materials taken from the literature support the role of viscosity on SCC behavior.