The relationship between stress corrosion cracking and intergranular corrosion was investigated on 2017 alloy with various aging structures. The alloy aged at 180°C for 5hr shows the highest susceptibilities to SCC, and to intergranular corrosion. This means that a correlationlies between SCC and intergranular corrosion.
The pitting potential is different in grain boundaries and grains each other. Intergranular corrosion is attributed to the difference in pitting potential.
The time to failure is shortened by anodic polarization, but is prlonged by cathodic polarization in potentiostatic SCC tests. SCC of the alloy is caused by active path corrosion. Intergranular corrosion acts as an active path.