When stress corrosion cracking occurs in spiral steel pipes, it occurs only when there is stress present. This stress can be external stress, tensile stress caused by the wedging of corrosion products, or residual stress introduced during the T process and welding process.

Hydrogen hysteresis cracking and stress corrosion cracking of spiral steel pipes are completely similar, both being a type of hysteresis failure and related to events. Due to the fact that stress corrosion cracking is a low stress brittle fracture, it is also a common reason for the aging of spiral steel pipes used in petroleum pipelines and other petrochemical equipment. The biggest hidden danger in the petrochemical industry is the unpredictable occurrence of stress corrosion cracking. As tensile stress is an important condition for stress corrosion cracking, the coexistence of corrosive media and tensile stress is a necessary condition for stress corrosion cracking to occur. Especially in equipment in industries such as nuclear power plants and petrochemicals, residual tensile stress often accumulates on the working force and is the main cause of corrosion cracking. The main source of residual tensile stress is the welding process of equipment during welding. Although currently spiral steel pipe engineering uses annealing treatment after welding cooling to eliminate residual stress, this approach can generate significant residual stress and waste resources. Moreover, the important process of residual stress generation is the post weld cooling of spiral steel pipes.

Post weld heat treatment not only improves the stress corrosion resistance of metals, but also effectively reduces residual stresses. Moreover, the higher the heat treatment temperature, the better the residual stress elimination effect. This method involves heating the spiral steel pipe workpiece to a certain temperature for welding, holding it for a period of time, and then slowly cooling it with insulation cotton. The higher the heating temperature for post weld heat treatment of spiral steel pipes, the more significant the improvement in stress corrosion resistance.