1999 W.R. Whitney award lecture:: Past, present, and future of stress corrosion cracking

The systematic study of the problem of stress corrosion cracking of metals started in the middle of the 19th century. At the end of the 20th century, there is still no general agreement about the mechanisms involved in the process. In the present review, an analysis was made of the difficulties found in the study of this problem, the achievements in the field, and what should be expected for forture decades.