The effect of pearlite on the hydrogen-induced ductility loss in ductile cast irons

Abstract

Hydrogen energy systems, such as a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and a hydrogen station, are rapidly developing to solve global environmental problems and resource problems. The available structural materials used for hydrogen equipments have been limited to only a few relatively expensive metallic materials that are tolerant for hydrogen embrittlement. Therefore, for the realization of a hydrogen society, it is important to expand the range of materials available for hydrogen equipment and thereby to enable the use of inexpensive common materials. Therefore, ductile cast iron was, in this study, focused as a structural material that could contribute to cost reduction of hydrogen equipment, because it is a low-cost material having good mechanical property comparable to carbon steels in addition to good castability and machinability. The strength and ductility of common ductile cast irons with a ferritic-pearlitic matrix can be controlled by the volume fraction of pearlitic phase. In the case of carbon steels, the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement increases with increase in the pearlite fraction. Toward the development of ferritic-pearlitic ductile cast iron with reasonable strength for hydrogen equipment, it is necessary to figure out the effect of pearlite on the hydrogen embrittlement of this cast iron. In this study, the tensile tests were conducted using hydrogen-precharged specimens of three kinds of ferritic-pearlitic ductile cast irons, JIS-FCD400, JIS-FCD450 and JIS-FCD700. Based on the results, the role of pearlite in characterizing the hydrogen embrittlement of ductile cast iron was discussed.