Quantitatively related acoustic emission signal with stress corrosion crack growth rate of sensitized 304 stainless steel in high-temperature water

Abstract Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of sensitized 304 stainless steel in high-temperature water was in-situ monitored by coupling acoustic emission (AE) and direct current potential drop (DCPD) techniques. The AE signals were identified using novel recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and k -mean cluster method. It was found that the RQA is feasible to identify the evolution of different AE waveforms generated by ligament tearing and plastic deformation of the crack tip. The AE cumulative hits rate was linear with the SCC crack growth rate, providing a possibility for applying the AE technique to quantitatively evaluate SCC in high-temperature water.