Four-terminal measurement of the distribution of electrical resistance across stress corrosion cracking

Abstract This study measures electrical resistance of a stress corrosion crack directly by the four-terminal method to discuss appropriate modeling from the viewpoint of electromagnetic nondestructive evaluation. Two type-316 stainless steel plate specimens containing artificial stress corrosion cracks were prepared, and columnar samples containing penetrating cracks were cut from the plates for the measurements. The results obtained agree with recent reports discussing appropriate numerical modeling of stress corrosion cracking on the basis of finite element simulations. In contrast, this study also reveals that it is not always valid to assume that a stress corrosion crack has uniform conductivity internally.