Rapid Evaluation of Hydrogen Embrittlement Resistance for Spot-Welds of High Tensile Strength Steel Sheet by Slow Rate Tensile Shear Test under Hydrogen Charging Conditions

Automobile manufacturers are accelerating adoption of spot welding of Advanced High-Strength-Steels (AHSS) sheets to reduce weight of automobile bodies. Rapid evaluation of the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) resistance for the spot-welds of AHSS sheets is required, since it is worried that the HE resistance of the nugget will deteriorate compared to the base metal due to the difference in microstructure caused by rapid cooling and solidification during spot welding. However, evaluation of the HE resistance for the spot-welds have not been established. In this study, we prepared spot-welded specimens using AHSS sheets and performed tensile shear tests with varying tensile rates under hydrogen charging to evaluate the relationship between diffusible hydrogen content and tensile shear strength. As a result, the tensile shear strength of spot welds decreased as the amount of diffusible hydrogen increased. The quasi-cleavage fractured surface and intergranular fractured surface were observed at the nugget and inside the crack generated at the nugget-heat affected zone interface. Furthermore, as the results of crack growth behavior and hydrogen thermal desorption spectroscopy analysis, hydrogen embrittlement in spot welds can be attributed to the stress-induced diffusion of hydrogen and the hydrogen trapped in dislocation and vacancy clusters at the crack tip.