Overload failures refer to the ductile or brittle fracture of a material when stresses exceed the load-bearing capacity of a material. This article reviews some mechanistic aspects of ductile and brittle crack propagation, including a discussion on mixed-mode cracking, which may also occur when an overload failure is caused by a combination of ductile and brittle cracking mechanisms. It describes the general aspects of fracture modes and mechanisms. The article discusses some of the material, mechanical, and environmental factors that may be involved in determining the root cause of an overload failure. It also presents examples of thermally and environmentally induced embrittlement effects that can alter the overload fracture behavior of metals.

Metal-induced embrittlement is a phenomenon in which the ductility or the fracture stress of a solid metal is reduced by surface contact with another metal in either the liquid or solid form. This article summarizes some of the characteristics of liquid-metal- and solid-metal-induced embrittlement. This phenomenon shares many of these characteristics with other modes of environmentally induced cracking, such as hydrogen embrittlement and stress-corrosion cracking. The discussion covers the occurrence, failure analysis, and service failures of the embrittlement. The article also briefly reviews some commercial alloy systems in which liquid-metal-induced embrittlement or solid-metal-induced embrittlement has been documented and describes some examples of cracking due to these phenomena, either in manufacturing or in service.

This article discusses the fundamental aspects of environmentally induced cracking. It provides a theoretical basis for the evaluation, testing, and methods of protection against the cracking. The article describes the mechanisms of corrosion that produce cracking of metals and intermetallic compounds as a result of exposure to their environment.

This article briefly reviews the various metallurgical or environmental factors that cause a weakening of the grain boundaries and, in turn, influence the occurrence of intergranular (IG) fractures. It discusses the mechanisms of IG fractures, including the dimpled IG fracture, the IG brittle fracture, and the IG fatigue fracture. The article describes some typical embrittlement mechanisms that cause the IG fracture of steels.

This article describes the types, mechanism, and typical test methods along with their configurations for the evaluation of hydrogen embrittlement, stress-corrosion cracking, and corrosion fatigue with an emphasis on fracture mechanics methodologies for metals. An overview on the environmentally assisted crack growth of polymers is also included. The article details the evaluation of nanoscale environmental effects and indentation-induced cohesive cracking. It also provides information on scanning probe microscopy.

This article briefly reviews the factors that influence the occurrence of intergranular (IG) fractures. Because the appearance of IG fractures is often very similar, the principal focus is placed on the various metallurgical or environmental factors that cause grain boundaries to become the preferred path of crack growth. The article describes in more detail some typical mechanisms that cause IG fracture. It discusses the causes and effects of IG brittle cracking, dimpled IG fracture, IG fatigue, hydrogen embrittlement, and IG stress-corrosion cracking. The article presents a case history on IG fracture of steam generator tubes, where a lowering of the operating temperature was proposed to reduce failures.

Embrittlement that occurs below the melting point of the embrittling species is known as solid metal induced embrittlement (SMIE) of metals. This article provides a discussion on the characteristics and investigations of SMIE, liquid metal induced embrittlement, and delayed failure. It also describes the mechanism of SMIE.

This article illustrates the three techniques for producing glassy metals, namely, liquid phase quenching, atomic or molecular deposition, and external action technique. Devitrification of an amorphous alloy can proceed by several routes, including primary crystallization, eutectoid crystallization, and polymorphous crystallization. The article demonstrates a free-energy versus composition diagram that summarizes many of the devitrification routes. It provides a historical review of the corrosion behavior of fully amorphous and partially devitrified metallic glasses. The article describes the general corrosion behavior and localized corrosion behavior of transition metal-metal binary alloys, transition metal-metalloid alloys, and amorphous simple metal-transition metal-rare earth metal alloys. It concludes with a discussion on the environmentally induced fracture of glassy alloys, including hydrogen embrittlement and stress-corrosion cracking.

With any polymeric material, chemical exposure may have one or more different effects. Some chemicals act as plasticizers, changing the polymer from one that is hard, stiff, and brittle to one which is softer, more flexible, and sometimes tougher. Often these chemicals can dissolve the polymer if they are present in large enough quantity and if the polymer is not crosslinked. Other chemicals can induce environmental stress cracking (ESC), an effect in which brittle fracture of a polymer will occur at a level of stress well below that required to cause failure in the absence of the ESC reagent. Finally, there are some chemicals that cause actual degradation of the polymer, breaking the macromolecular chains, reducing molecular weight, and diminishing polymer properties as a result. This article examines each of these effects. The discussion also covers the effects of surface embrittlement and temperature on polymer performance.

Corrosion is classified into two categories: corrosion that is not influenced by any other process and corrosion that is influenced by another process such as the presence of stresses or erosion. This article discusses uniform corrosion, localized corrosion, metallurgically influenced corrosion, and microbiologically influenced corrosion, which fit under the classification of corrosion that is not influenced by any outside process. It also explains mechanically assisted degradation and environmentally induced cracking, which fit under the classification of corrosion that is influenced by an outside process.

Metal-induced embrittlement is a phenomenon in which the ductility or fracture stress of a solid metal is reduced by surface contact with another metal in either liquid or solid form. This article summarizes the characteristics of solid metal induced embrittlement (SMIE) and liquid metal induced embrittlement (LMIE). It describes the unique features that assist in arriving at a clear conclusion whether SMIE or LMIE is the most probable cause of the problem. The article briefly reviews some commercial alloy systems where LMIE or SMIE has been documented. It also provides some examples of cracking due to these phenomena, either in manufacturing or in service.

This article begins with a discussion on the classification of hydrogen embrittlement and likely sources of hydrogen and stress. The article describes several hydrogen embrittlement test methods, including cantilever beam tests, wedge-opening load tests, contoured double-cantilever beam tests, rising step-load tests, and slow strain rate tensile tests. It also describes the interpretation of test results and how to control hydrogen embrittlement during production.

Hydrogen damage is a term used to designate a number of processes in metals by which the load-carrying capacity of the metal is reduced due to the presence of hydrogen. This article introduces the general forms of hydrogen damage and provides an overview of the different types of hydrogen damage in all the major commercial alloy systems. It covers the broader topic of hydrogen damage, which can be quite complex and technical in nature. The article focuses on failure analysis where hydrogen embrittlement of a steel component is suspected. It provides practical advice for the failure analysis practitioner or for someone who is contemplating procurement of a cost-effective failure analysis of commodity-grade components suspected of hydrogen embrittlement. Some prevention strategies for design and manufacturing problem-induced hydrogen embrittlement are also provided.

This article provides an overview of the classification of hydrogen damage. Some specific types of the damage are hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen-induced blistering, cracking from precipitation of internal hydrogen, hydrogen attack, and cracking from hydride formation. The article focuses on the types of hydrogen embrittlement that occur in all the major commercial metal and alloy systems, including stainless steels, nickel-base alloys, aluminum and aluminum alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, copper and copper alloys, and transition and refractory metals. The specific types of hydrogen embrittlement discussed include internal reversible hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen environment embrittlement, and hydrogen reaction embrittlement. The article describes preservice and early-service fractures of commodity-grade steel components suspected of hydrogen embrittlement. Some prevention strategies for design and manufacturing problem-induced hydrogen embrittlement are also reviewed.

Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) is a phenomenon in which time-dependent crack growth occurs when the necessary electrochemical, mechanical, and metallurgical conditions exist. This article provides an overview of the environmental phenomenon, mechanisms, and controlling parameters of SCC. It describes the phenomenological and mechanistic aspects of the initiation and propagation of SCC. The article includes a phenomenological description of crack initiation and propagation that describes well-established experimental evidence and observations of stress corrosion. Discussions on mechanisms describe the physical process involved in crack initiation and propagation. The article also includes information on dissolution models and mechanical fracture models.

Liquid metal induced embrittlement (LMIE) is the reduction of the fracture resistance of a solid material during exposure to a liquid metal. This article discusses the mechanisms and occurrence condition of LMIE and describes the effects of metallurgical factors, such as grain size, temperature and strain rate, stress, inert carriers, and fatigue, on LMIE. It provides a detailed discussion on LMIE in ferrous and nonferrous metals and their alloys. In addition, the article highlights the ways of preventing embrittlement in metals and alloys.

Hydrogen damage is a form of environmentally assisted failure that results from the combined action of hydrogen and residual or applied tensile stress. This article classifies the various forms of hydrogen damage and summarizes the theories that seek to explain these types of degradation. It reviews hydrogen degradation in specific ferrous and nonferrous alloys, namely, iron-base alloys, nickel alloys, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, titanium alloys, zirconium alloys, and vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and their alloys. An outline of hydrogen damage in intermetallic compounds is also provided.

As cast iron parts are extensively applied, fracture events will eventually take place. Consequently, it becomes essential to carry out failure analyses to identify the cause of fracture and to provide corrective actions that allow safe operation. This article presents a description of the main fracture modes and their characteristic fractographic features. It discusses the four principal fracture modes: dimple rupture (or fracture), cleavage, fatigue, and intergranular fracture. The article provides information on special cases of environmentally assisted fracture. It concludes with a description of fractographic analyses for identifying the direction of propagation of a crack.

Environmental and worker health regulations have increased the costs associated with cadmium coating application and cadmium-beating waste disposal, thus creating economic incentives for industrial users to seek cadmium plating replacements. This article presents a cadmium replacement identification matrix that includes information on the specifications, corrosion control performance, environment-assisted cracking, coating lubricity, environmental and worker health regulations, and cost and performance factors for various replacement processes.