Abstract
The present study investigated the effect of prior austenite grain size on hydrogen embrittlement in an 8Ni-0.1C martensitic steel. The prior austenite grain size was refined from 124 μm to 4.7 μm through cyclic heat treatment of austenitizing and water quenching. Slow strain rate tensile tests revealed that the hydrogen embrittlement was improved by the refinement of prior austenite grains. The macroscopic fracture surfaces of both the hydrogen-charged specimens with coarse prior austenite grains and fine prior austenite grains were characterized by intergranular fracture surfaces. The area fraction of the macroscopic intergranular fracture surfaces in the hydrogen-charged specimen with fine prior austenite grains was smaller than that in the hydrogen-charged specimen with coarse prior austenite grains. This suggested that the refinement of prior austenite grains reduced the frequency of the fracture by hydrogen embrittlement.
Published Version
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