The research will examine stress corrosion cracking under the combined effect of stress and environment. It will study dealloying theory which suggests that one constituent of the alloy is preferentially corroded, resulting in a very thin layer, dealloyed surface, which could undergo brittle failure under high stresses and high strain rates. The approach will be a combination of experiments and analysis, on a model Cu-Au system, using high resolution microscopy on one hand and eigen stress analysis on the other to treat the dealloyed surface layer. Mechanical properties of the dealloyed material will be studied with bending of cantilever microbeams.
