What is one effective way to increase resistance to stress corrosion cracking?

Creating compressive stresses through shot peening is an effective method to increase resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Shot peening involves bombarding the surface of a material with small spherical media (shot) which induces compressive residual stresses in the surface layer. These compressive stresses counteract the tensile stresses that can lead to the initiation and propagation of stress corrosion cracks.

Tensile stresses, whether from applied loads or due to corrosion processes, can lead to crack formation if the material is vulnerable to stress corrosion cracking. By introducing compressive stresses, it enhances the material's resistance to such cracking, effectively reducing the likelihood of failure under corrosive environmental conditions.

Other methods of enhancing resistance to stress corrosion cracking could involve altering material properties through different alloys or coatings, but shot peening specifically focuses on manipulating the mechanical state of the surface to enhance performance against such failure modes.