The effect of corrosion on a smooth-specimen S-N diagram is shown schematically on the right. Curve A shows the fatigue behavior of a material tested in air. A fatigue threshold (or limit) is seen in curve A, corresponding to the horizontal part of the curve. Curves B and C represent the fatigue behavior of the same material in two corrosive environments. In curve B, the fatigue failure at high stress levels is retarded, and the fatigue limit is eliminated. In curve C, the whole curve is shifted to the left; this indicates a general lowering in fatigue strength, accelerated initiation at higher stresses and elimination of the fatigue limit. 
To meet the needs of advancing technology, higher-strength materials are developed through heat treatment or alloying. Such high-strength materials generally exhibit higher fatigue limits, and can be used at higher service stress levels even under fatigue loading. However, the presence of a corrosive environment during fatigue loading eliminates this stress advantage, since the fatigue limit becomes almost insensitive to the strength level for a particular group of alloys. This effect is schematically shown for several steels in the diagram on the left, which illustrates the debilitating effect of a corrosive environment on the functionality of high-strength materials under fatigue.
Corrosion fatigue in aqueous media is an electrochemical behavior. Fractures are initiated either by pitting or persistent slip bands. Corrosion fatigue may be reduced by alloy additions, inhibition and cathodic protection, all of which reduce pitting. Since corrosion-fatigue cracks initiate at a metals surface, surface treatments like plating, cladding, nitriding and shot peening were found to improve the materials resistance to this phenomenon.