Abstract
A simple electrolytic cell can be used to charge hydrogen into steel samples. The present paper investigates the validity of this procedure for simulating hydrogen induced cold cracking in steel weld metal, as compared with weld metal containing hydrogen originating from the welding process. The simulation procedure has been investigated since a potential advantage is its ability to provide improved understanding of the quantitative relationships between hydrogen, microstructure, and cracking susceptibility when applied to mechanical test specimens. The intention of the present study was to verify that the distribution of hydrogen was uniform in test samples. Various experiments were therefore carried out which showed how, with care, the hydrogen concentration could be controlled to simulate that expected during welding. This has been further verified using a simple model of diffusion. In addition, it has been shown that the procedure can simulate the same microstructural mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation that are observed in welds containing hydrogen originating from the welding process.
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