Discussion Reply to Discussion on ‘‘Failure mechanisms of high strength steels in bicarbonate solutions under anodic polarization’’ by L. Caballero E. Proverbio * , P. Longo Department of Industrial Chemistry and Materials Engineering, University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, S.Agata di Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy Received 12 January 2004; accepted 24 January 2004 Available online 11 March 2004 Abstract The reply to the criticisms made by Caballero, gives us the opportunity to clarify some aspects related to the constant load tests carried out on high strength steel wires in bicarbonate aqueous solutions under anodic potential. The influence of the environment on the macro- scopic mechanical behaviour of the steel wires are then evidenced. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Most of the criticism made by Caballero in his paper [1], which for sake of simplicity will be referred to as the Ôdiscussion’ was based on a misinterpretation of the aim of our paper and a misunderstanding of the results reported, unfortunately supported by few numerical mistakes made by handling calculation and properly recognized by Caballero whom therefore we thank to give us the opportunity to emend them. For sake of clarity the present reply will follow the order used in the discussion. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-090-393134/676-5608; fax: +39-090-391-518. E-mail address: proverbi@ingegneria.unime.it (E. Proverbio). 0010-938X/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2004.01.017 www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci Corrosion Science 46 (2004) 1821–1829