Hydrogen embrittlement is a complex phenomenon, involving several length- and timescales, that affects a large class of metals. It can significantly reduce the ductility and load-bearing capacity and cause cracking and catastrophic brittle failures at stresses below the yield stress of susceptible materials. Despite a large research effort in attempting to understand the mechanisms of failure and in developing potential mitigating solutions, hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms are still not completely understood. There are controversial opinions in the literature regarding the underlying mechanisms and related experimental evidence supporting each of these theories. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed review up to the current state of the art on the effect of hydrogen on the degradation of metals, with a particular focus on steels. Here, we describe the effect of hydrogen in steels from the atomistic to the continuum scale by reporting theoretical evidence supported by quantum calculation and modern experimental characterisation methods, macroscopic effects that influence the mechanical properties of steels and established damaging mechanisms for the embrittlement of steels. Furthermore, we give an insight into current approaches and new mitigation strategies used to design new steels resistant to hydrogen embrittlement.

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Understanding and mitigating hydrogen embrittlement of steels: a review of experimental, modelling and design progress from atomistic to continuum.

Hydrogen embrittlement of lath martenistic steels is characterized by intergranular and “quasi-cleavage” transgranular fracture. Recent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses (Nagao et al., 2012a, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c) of samples lifted from beneath fracture surfaces through focused ion beam machining (FIB) revealed a failure mechanism that can be termed hydrogen-enhanced-plasticity mediated decohesion. Fracture occurs by the synergistic action of the hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity and decohesion. In particular, intergranular cracking takes place by dislocation pile-ups impinging on prior austenite grain boundaries and “quasi-cleavage” is the case when dislocation pile-ups impinge on block boundaries. These high-angle boundaries, which have already weakened by the presence of hydrogen, debond by the pile-up stresses. The micromechanical model of Novak et al. (2010) is used to quantitatively describe and predict the hydrogen-induced failure of these steels. The model predictions verify that introduction of nanosized (Ti,Mo)C precipitates in the steel microstructure enhances the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. The results are used to discuss microstructural designs that are less susceptible to hydrogen-induced failure in systems with fixed hydrogen content (closed systems).

Hydrogen-enhanced-plasticity mediated decohesion for hydrogen-induced intergranular and “quasi-cleavage” fracture of lath martensitic steels

The effect of nanosized (Ti,Mo)C precipitates on hydrogen embrittlement of tempered lath martensitic steel

Hydrogen related degradation in pipeline steel: A review

Recent experimental studies of the microstructure beneath fracture surfaces of specimens fractured in the presence of high concentrations of hydrogen suggest that the dislocation structure and hydrogen transported by mobile dislocations play important roles in establishing the local conditions that promote failure. The experiments demonstrate that hydrogen is responsible for the copious plasticity in large volumes of material before the onset of fracture and further afield from a crack tip. A revised model for hydrogen transport that accounts for hydrogen carried by dislocations along with stress driven diffusion and trapping at other microstructural defects is proposed. With the use of this new model, numerical simulation results for transient hydrogen profiles in the neighborhood of a crack tip are presented. Based on hydrogen-enhanced dislocation mobility and density, the results indicate that dislocation transport can contribute to the elevation of the local hydrogen concentrations ahead of the crack to levels above those predicted by the classical diffusion model and to distributions that extend farther afield.

T. Neeraj

Papers

Hydrogen interaction with multiple traps: Can it be used to mitigate embrittlement?