Long life corrosion fatigue behaviour is discussed. The importance of (i) quantification of corrosion pit depth (or surface roughness caused by corrosion) as a function of service period and (ii) corrosion pit modelling is emphasized. Extreme value statistics is useful for corrosion pit depth quantification. It is demonstrated that a corrosion pit can be treated as an elliptical crack with the same depth and surface length as a pit. From these considerations, a method for determination of a reasonable allowable stress in corrosion fatigue is proposed. Finally, an example of an allowable stress is given, i.e. the allowable stresses of a real machine component under rotating bending stress are determined from estimation curves of pit depth together with corrosion fatigue crack growth data. NOMENCLATURE a = crack length area = projected area of a hole on a horizontal plane b, C, C i , C2, ho, m, n, a , , a2 = constants d = pit (or hole) diameter f = frequency F = correction factor h = pit (or hole) depth h, = pit depth, at which corrosion fatigue crack growth starts h,,, = maximum pit depth hf= final depth of crack AK = stress intensity factor range K,,, = maximum stress intensity factor AK,, = threshold stress intensity factor range (for R > 0) KmaX.,, = threshold stress intensity factor (for R < 0) AKtaCF = threshold stress intensity factor range in corrosive environments (for R > 0) Kmai,th,CF = threshold stress intensity factor in corrosive environments (for R < 0) AK,,, = allowable value of AK,,.,, Kall = allowable value of Kmar,th,CF N, = number of cycles to failure R = stress ratio ( = urmn/amai) r = correlation coefficient S = safety factor t, = design lifetime rf= fatigue crack growth period T = stress increasing time (or stress rise time) in a stress cycle Aa = stress range Au,,, = allowable stress range (for R z 0) amax = maximum stress AuW = stress range at the fatigue limit in tension or bending ( R > 0) Aa; = Aa,,, for h = 0 u,,,~~,~,, = allowable maximum stress (for R < 0)Authors' proposal uw = maximum stress at the fatigue limit in tension or bending ( R < 0) c&=u, for h = O uWCF = fatigue limit in tension or bending under corrosive environments ( R < 0) uLcF = uWCF for h = 0 T~ = fatigue limit in torsion ( R < 0).