1. n. [Drilling Fluids, Well Workover and Intervention, Well Completions]

A type of spontaneous brittle failure in steels and other high-strength alloys when they are in contact with moist hydrogen sulfide and other sulfidic environments. Tool joints, hardened parts of blowout preventers and valve trim are particularly susceptible. For this reason, along with toxicity risks of hydrogen sulfide gas, it is essential that water muds be kept entirely free of soluble sulfides and especially hydrogen sulfide at low pH. Sulfide stress cracking is also called hydrogen sulfide cracking, sulfide cracking, sulfide corrosion cracking and sulfide stress-corrosion cracking. The variation of the name is due to the lack of agreement in the mechanism of failure. Some researchers consider sulfide-stress cracking a type of stress-corrosion cracking, while others consider it a type of hydrogen embrittlement.

See: corrosion control,  hydrogen embrittlement,  hydrogen-induced failures,  stress corrosion cracking