Effects of Hydrogen on Mechanical Behavior of Steels

Main features of hydrogen effects on mechanical behavior of steels have been reviewed. While the effects on macroscopic tensile properties are not definite, the increase in dislocation mobility by hydrogen appears as an enhanced stress relaxation the extent of which correlating with the susceptibility to failure. Hydrogen enhances the creation of vacancies during plastic deformation. The extent is susceptible to microstructures of steels and correlates with the susceptibility to failure. Flow localization in the presence of hydrogen is substantial, leading to shear instability. Characteristic fractographic features in hydrogen-related failure, such as striations, have been shown to originate in deformation bands in which the density of defects is high. Prominent localization of void nucleation takes place at the advancing crack tip. Amorphization has been observed in front of the crack and just below the fracture surface in a hydrogen-charged steel in accord with flow localization and associated vacancy creation. Hydrogen remarkably reduces the fatigue resistance of steels, and, conversely, prior fatigue treatment increases the susceptibility to delayed fracture. The mechanism has been ascribed to the creation of vacancies during fatigue and interactions between vacancies and hydrogen. Further studies for assessing the susceptibility to hydrogen-related failure have been suggested to be based on the accumulation of damage rather than hydrogen content.