Improving the corrosion and stress corrosion cracking resistance of 316 L stainless steel in high temperature water by water jet cavitation peening

Water jet cavitation peening (WJP) was used to improve the corrosion and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of cold worked 316L stainless steel (316L SS) in high temperature water. WJP induced changes in residual stress and microstructure of the surface layer on corrosion and SCC were investigated. The investigation was conducted by comparing the corrosion and SCC of the un-treated (UT) and WJP treated specimens by exposure tests and slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests. The results revealed that WJP obviously improved the corrosion and SCC resistance of 316L SS, which is attributed to the increase of residual compressive stress and the change of the microstructure of the surface layer. • WJP can improve the corrosion and SCC resistance of 316L SS in high temperature water. • SCC resistance improvement was attributed to the change of residual stress and microstructure. • CLD model was used to explanation the formation mechanism of multilayer oxide scales.