Brittle fracture of a normally ductile material in which the corrosive effect of the environment is a causative factor. Environmental cracking is a general term that includes corrosion fatigue, high-temperature hydrogen attack, hydrogen blistering, hydrogen embrittlement, liquid metal embrittlement, solid metal embrittlement, stress-corrosion cracking, and sulphide stress cracking. The following terms have been used in the past in connexion with environmental cracking, but are becoming obsolete: caustic embrittlement, delayed fracture, season cracking, static fatigue, stepwise cracking, sulphide corrosion cracking, and sulphide stress-corrosion cracking. See also embrittlement.