Hydrogen embrittlement of dual-phase steels

Abstract

Reversible hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is usually only found in quenched and tempered steels with yield stresses in excess of 1035 MPa (150 ksi). A study of the HE phenomena in two dual-phase steels with tensile strengths of about 690 MPa (100 ksi) has shown that these steels are susceptible to the presence of hydrogen. HE results in a reduction in fracture strength, although no preyield failures are observed, and a change in fracture mode from ductile dimpling to transgranular cleavage. After prestraining and HE, it is found that the greater the prestrain the higher is the fracture stress. It is concluded that the presence of the 15 to 20 pct high carbon (0.6 pct C) high strength martensite in the dual-phase steels is responsible for the HE; tempering studies give results consistent with this idea. Delayed failure tests on notched specimens showed that for the as-received condition, the run-out stress (stress for no failures in 50 to 100 h) to be above the macroscopic flow stress. A condition for HE failure in dual-phase steels appears to be considerable macroscopic deformation.