HIDDEN CORROSION THAT COULD COST YOU YOUR RIG

Some of the more common failure modes of the metals used in boats are generally quite well understood by yacht owners today, when internet searches and forums make topics that used to be solely the regime of specialists readily accessible to all. However, some means by which metal parts can break remain somewhat more clouded in mystery, few more so than stress-corrosion cracking (SCC). In similar fashion to fatigue cracking, SCC is one of those failure mechanisms that can remain hidden for a long time, suddenly giving way when stress levels cross a certain threshold which, as is the way of these things, is usually at the most inconvenient time for the yachtsman. To be technically correct, I am discussing the version of it that occurs in chlorides (such as salt water), whereas another that occurs in sulphides can be ignored for this article.

SCC, as the name suggests, is one of those failure mechanisms that relies on a combination of two factors. Either stress or corrosion alone would