在众多的工业用途中，不锈钢都能提供今人满意的耐蚀性能。根据使用的经验来看，除机械失效外，不锈钢的腐蚀主要表现在：不锈钢的一种严重的腐蚀形式是局部腐蚀（亦即应力腐蚀开裂、点腐蚀、晶间腐蚀、腐蚀疲劳以及缝隙腐蚀）。这些局部腐蚀所导致的失效事例几乎占失效事例的一半以上。事实上，很多失效事故是可以通过合理的选材而予以避免的。
Among numerous industrial applications, stainless steel can provide satisfactory corrosion resistance to today's people. According to the use experience, in addition to mechanical failure, the corrosion of stainless steel is mainly manifested in: a serious form of corrosion of stainless steel is local corrosion (that is, stress corrosion cracking, pitting corrosion, intergranular corrosion, Corrosion fatigue and crevice corrosion). The failure cases caused by these local corrosion accounts for almost half of the failure cases. In fact, many failure accidents can be avoided through reasonable material selection.
应力腐蚀开裂（SCC）：是指承受应力的合金在腐蚀性环境中由于烈纹的扩展而互生失效的一种通用术语。应力腐蚀开裂具有脆性断口形貌，但它也可能发生于韧性高的材料中。发生应力腐蚀开裂的必要条件是要有拉应力（不论是残余应力还是外加应力，或者两者兼而有之）和特定的腐蚀介质存在。型纹的形成和扩展大致与拉应力方向垂直。这个导致应力腐蚀开裂的应力值，要比没有腐蚀介质存在时材料断裂所需要的应力值小得多。在微观上，穿过晶粒的裂纹称为穿晶裂纹，而沿晶界扩图的裂纹称为沿晶裂纹，当应力腐蚀开裂扩展至其一深度时（此处，承受载荷的材料断面上的应力达到它在空气中的断裂应力），则材料就按正常的裂纹（在韧性材料中，通常是通过显微缺陷的聚合）而断开。因此，由于应力腐蚀开裂而失效的零件的断面，将包含有应力腐蚀开裂的特征区域以及与已微缺陷的聚合相联系的“韧窝”区域。
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC): a general term that refers to the mutual failure of stressed alloys due to the propagation of strong lines in corrosive environments. Stress corrosion cracking has brittle fracture morphology, but it may also occur in materials with high toughness. The necessary condition for stress corrosion cracking is the existence of tensile stress (whether residual stress or external stress, or both) and specific corrosion medium. The formation and expansion of the pattern are roughly perpendicular to the direction of tensile stress. The stress value that leads to stress corrosion cracking is much smaller than that required for material fracture in the absence of corrosive medium. Microscopically, cracks passing through grains are called transgranular cracks, while cracks extending along grain boundaries are called intergranular cracks. When stress corrosion cracking expands to a certain depth (here, the stress on the section of the material under load reaches its fracture stress in air), the material will be broken as normal cracks (in ductile materials, usually through the polymerization of microscopic defects). Therefore, the section of a part that fails due to stress corrosion cracking will contain the characteristic area of stress corrosion cracking and the "dimple" area associated with polymerization of micro defects.
点腐蚀：是一种导致腐蚀的局部腐蚀形式。
Spot corrosion: It is a localized form of corrosion that causes corrosion.
晶间腐蚀：晶粒间界是结晶学取向不同的晶粒间紊乱错合的界城，因而，它们是钢中各种溶质元素偏析或金属化合物（如碳化物和δ相）沉淀析出的有利区城。因此，在某些腐蚀介质中，晶粒间界可能先行被腐蚀乃是不足为奇的。这种类型的腐蚀被称为晶间腐蚀，大多数的金属和合金在特定的腐蚀介质中都可能呈现晶间腐蚀。
Intergranular corrosion: intergranular boundaries are boundaries of disordered and mismatched grains with different crystallography orientations, so they are segregation of various solute elements or metal compounds (such as carbides and δ A favorable area for precipitation and precipitation. Therefore, it is not surprising that in certain corrosive media, grain boundaries may be corroded first. This type of corrosion is called intergranular corrosion, and most metals and alloys may exhibit intergranular corrosion in specific corrosive media.