ECSS-Q-70-36A – Material selection for controlling stress-corrosion cracking (20 January 1998)

This Standard has been cancelled and replaced by ECSS-Q-ST-70-36C (6 March 2009).

Scope

This document sets forth the criteria to be used in the selection of materials for spacecraft and associated equipment and facilities so that failure resulting from stress-corrosion will be prevented.

Three categories of materials are listed in Tables 1, 2 and 3 of this document. They represent metal alloys with a high, moderate and low resistance to stress-corrosion cracking.

The stress-corrosion susceptibility of alloys included in this document was determined at ambient temperature

  • by means of laboratory tests in which specimens were either sprayed with salt water or periodically immersed and withdrawn;
  • by exposing specimens in sea coast or mild industrial environments;
  • by subjecting fabricated hardware to service conditions.

Use of the criteria established herein should, therefore, be limited to designs for service involving similar exposure conditions.

Behaviour of the listed materials at elevated temperature and in specific chemical environments other than those mentioned above shall be ascertained by means of additional testing.

Weldments present a special problem in designing for resistance to stress-corrosion cracking. In addition to the susceptibility of the parent metals, it is also necessary to consider the filler metal and the microstructural effects of heat introduced by the welding operations and subsequent heat treatments. Because of the additional variables that shall be considered, susceptibility data are not as extensive for weldments as for alloys in mill form. Design criteria for weldments in this document are limited to aluminium alloys, selected stainless steels in the 300 series and other specific alloys listed in Table 1.

This document is intended to provide general criteria to be used in designing for resistance to stress-corrosion cracking. Specific test data and other detailed information are not included.

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