A heat treatment, whether accidental, intentional, or incidental (as during welding), that causes precipitation of constituents at grain boundaries, often causing the alloy to become susceptible to intergranular corrosion or intergranular stress-corrosion ...

The size of a flaw (defect) in a structure that will cause failure at a particular stress level.

Embrittlement under creep conditions of, for example, aluminum alloys and steels that results in abnormally low rupture ductility. In aluminum alloys, iron in amounts above the solubility limit is known to cause such embrittlement; in steels, the phenomen ...

A generic term for microstructures formed by diffusionless phase transformation in which the parent and product phases have a specific crystallographic relationship. Martensite is characterized by an acicular pattern in the microstructure in both ferrous ...

The least noble potential where pitting or crevice corrosion, or both, will initiate and propagate.

Polarization of the cathode; change of the electrode potential in the active (negative) direction due to current flow; a reduction from the initial potential resulting from current flow effects at or near the cathode surface. Potential becomes more active ...

(1) A reduction of the anodic reaction rate of an electrode involved in corrosion. (2) The process in metal corrosion by which metals become passive. (3) The changing of a chemically active surface of' a metal to a much less reactive state. Contrast with ...

See conductivity.

In a cathodic protection system, in electrically nonconductive material, such as a coating, plastic sheet or pipe that is placed between an anode and an adjacent cathode to avoid current wastage and to improve current distribution, usually on the cathode.

A condition in which the interfacial tension between a liquid and a solid is such that the contact angle is 0

Current efficiency at the cathode.

Any process whereby a base metal or alloy is either (1) coated with another metal or alloy and heated to a sufficient temperature in a suitable environment or (2) exposed to a gaseous or liquid medium containing the other metal or alloy, thus causing diff ...

A segregated structure consisting of alternating nearly parallel bands of different composition, typically aligned in the direction of primary hot working.

Same as strain hardening.

The interface between an eletrode or a suspended particle and an electrolyte created by charge-charge interaction (charge separation) leading to an alignment of oppositely charged ions at the surface of the electrode or particle. The simplest model is rep ...

Corrosion that occurs under organic films in the form of randomly distributed threadlike filaments or spots. In many cases this is identical to filiform corrosion.

The maximum stress (tensile. compressive, or shear) a material can sustain without fracture, determined by dividing maximum load by the original cross-sectional area of the specimen. Also called nominal strength or maximum strength.

(1) Water having salinity values ranging from approximately 0.5 to l7 parts per thousand. (2) Water having less salt than seawater, but undrinkable.

A linear imperfection in a crystalline array of atoms. Two basic types are recognized: (1) an edge dislocation corresponds to the row of mismatched atoms along the edge formed by an extra, partial plane of atoms within the body of a crystal; (2) a screw d ...

See copper-accelerated salt-spray test.