Cracking of duplex stainless steel due to dissolved hydrogen

Journal Article · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Metallurgical Transactions, A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02670603· OSTI ID:72660

Huang, J H ^[1]; Altstetter, C J ^[2]

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1. National Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu (Taiwan, Province of China). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
2. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Ferallium 255 duplex stainless steel was cathodically precharged with hydrogen at 265 C in a molten salt electrolyte. Sustained load tests were carried out in air at 0 C, 25 C and 50 C with average hydrogen contents from 3 to 15 wt ppm. The DC potential drop method was calibrated with optical measurements to continuously monitor the crack position and allow calculation of crack velocity and stress intensity. The crack velocity vs stress intensity (K) curves generally rose gradually over a large range in K and had definite thresholds for subcritical crack growth. Second and third stages were not always clearly delineated. Threshold stress intensities decreased as hydrogen content increased. An identifiable stage 2 occurred most often for alloys containing about 10 wt ppm dissolved hydrogen. The crack growth velocities generally increased with increasing temperature or hydrogen content. As the dissolved hydrogen increased, the fracture mode changed from microvoid coalescence (MVC) to microcrack coalescence (MCC) with some tearing ridges. At high hydrogen content, both ferrite and austenite phases showed brittle morphology, which was identical to the fracture surface of the uncharged specimens tested in hydrogen gas at 108 kPa pressure. Comparing the embrittling effect of internal hydrogen with that of external hydrogen it is found that the threshold stress intensity in hydrogen gas at 1 atm is lower than that at the highest internal hydrogen concentration (15 wt ppm).

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 72660
• Journal Information: Metallurgical Transactions, A, Journal Name: Metallurgical Transactions, A Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 26; ISSN 0360-2133; ISSN MTTABN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRACK PROPAGATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT
STAINLESS STEELS
STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
USES