A Review on the Applications of Acoustic Emission Technique in the Study of Stress Corrosion Cracking

Abstract

The complex nature of the damage evolution in stress corrosion cracking (SCC) leads to explore for new investigation technologies in order to better identify the mechanisms that supervise the initiation and evolution of the damage as well to provide an improvement of knowledge on this critical localized corrosion form during time. Research activities concerning the use of acoustic emission (AE) technique to assess SCC has acquiring considerably relevance in recent decades. The non-invasiveness and the possibility to provide a continuous in situ monitoring of structures and components make this non-destructive technique clearly promising in the field of structural health monitoring. In this concern, this paper aims to be a focused overview on the evaluation of SCC phenomena by AE technique. The main topic of this review is centered on the approaches that can be used in elaborating AE data to better discriminate the mechanisms that contribute to damage propagation in SCC conditions. Based on available literature, investigation approaches assessing AE waveform parameters were classified, evidencing, furthermore, the identified mechanisms that synergistically take place during the material degradation. Eventually, a brief summary and a future trend evaluation was also reported.