The description is a review article compiling the author’s papers dealing with stress corrosion cracking of solution-annealed type 304 stainless steel in hot sulfuric acid solutions with or without additives.

Stress corrosion cracking occurs in solutions with separate additions of all halide species or psuedohalides (KCN and NH₄SCN), where the additives act as an anodic and cathodic inhibitor at and below corrosion potentials and prevent heavy general corrosion or anodic uniform dissolution because of their adsorption on the metal surface resulting in formation of protective surface layers.

Copper alloyed in the steel in H₂SO₄ solution (without additive) also acts as an inhibitor like the above additives in solutions and causes stress corrosion cracking.

The suppressed corrosion rates or anodic dissolution rates at which cracking occurs are below a few nanometers per second. No cracks occur at and above active-passive transition potential.

Twin boundaries, ε- or α’-martensite (if it is present), and expanded half dislocations or stacking faults emitting from such stress-concentrated sites as crack tips or grain boundaries are preferential paths of cracking.