A thermodynamically consistent modelling of stress corrosion tests in elasto-viscoplastic materials

Slow strain rate (SSR) and constant load (CL) tests are the most important techniques used to rank the susceptibility of different materials to stress corrosion cracking in a specific environment. The present paper proposes a thermodynamically consistent phenomenological framework to model both SSR and CL tests of austenitic steels in acid solutions at room temperature. This global one-dimensional approach does not require the computation of local stresses or strains. The goal is to discuss the thermodynamic aspects that allow proposing a one-dimensional model that combine mathematical simplicity with the capability of describing a complex non-linear mechanical behaviour. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.