Also called postweld heat treatment cracking, stress-relief cracking occurs when susceptible alloys are subjected to thermal stress relief after welding to reduce residual stresses and improve toughness. Stress-relief cracking occurs only in metals that can precipitation-harden during such elevated-temperature exposure; it usually occurs at stress raisers, is intergranular in nature, and is generally observed in the coarse-grained region of the weld heat-affected zone. See also cold cracking, hot cracking, and lamellar tearing.