DETERMINATION OF SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ENVIRONMENTALLY-ASSISTED CRACKING OF SMALL AND MICROSTRUCTURALLY VARIED REGIONS WHILE MAINTAINING FRACTURE MECHANICS VALIDITY

拟议的工作旨在开发一种改进的工具，以获得更准确的设计数据和改进的材料选择标准，用于澳大利亚主要工业的关键设备和基础设施维护，其中环境辅助开裂是一个严重问题（即海洋，聚合物/化学加工，航空，氧化铝矿物加工和纸浆和纸张）。新测试方法（即螺旋缺口扭转测试（SNTT））的成功验证，用于评估具有实际意义的材料的应力腐蚀开裂（SCC）敏感性，这些材料很难或不可能通过常规测试充分表征，这既是一项基础研究挑战，也是一项具有工业吸引力的挑战。

The proposed work seeks to develop an improved tool for more accurate design data and improved materials selection criteria for critical equipment and infrastructure maintenance in major Australian industries, where environmentally-assisted cracking is a serious concern (viz., marine, polymer/chemical processing, aeronautical, alumina mineral processing and pulp-and-paper). A successful validation of the novel testing approach (namely, Spiral Notch Torsion Test (SNTT)) for evaluating the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of materials of practical interest that are difficult or impossible to adequately characterize by conventional tests, is as much a fundamental research challenge as its accomplishment will be industrially attractive.