Predicting ESC
Although the phenomenon of ESC has been known for a number of decades, research has not yet enabled prediction of this type of failure for all environments and for every type of polymer. Some scenarios are well known, documented or are able to be predicted, but there is no complete reference for all combinations of stress, polymer and environment. The rate of ESC is dependent on many factors including the polymer’s chemical makeup, bonding, crystallinity, surface roughness, molecular weight and residual stress. It also depends on the liquid reagent's chemical nature and concentration, the temperature of the system and the strain rate.