Failure investigation of cartridge case

Abstract Present work describes the failure investigation of cartridge case. The microstructure of cartridge case has been investigated at different locations and correlated with hardness. The optical microstructure reveals the presence of a single phase consisting of equiaxed and deformed grains along with annealing twins. The fracture surface mainly display thin oxide layer and rubbed features. The presence of corrosive pits along with several crack branching on inner surface suggests that the cartridge case has failed due to stress corrosion cracking.