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Embrittlement of a ferrous alloy in a partially dissociated hydrogen environment

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Abstract

Gaseous hydrogen embrittlement of quenched and tempered 4130 steel was studied as a function of temperature from −42° to 164°C in a partially dissociated hydrogen environment at low molecular hydrogen pressures (≈8 × 10−3 torr). Atomic hydrogen was created by dissociation of molecular hydrogen on a hot tungsten filament located near a crack opening. The presence of atomic hydrogen was found to increase the rate of hydrogen-induced, slow crack growth by several orders of magnitude and to significantly alter the temperature dependence of embrittlement from what is observed in the presence of molecular hydrogen alone. Based on a previous study, these observations are interpreted in terms of a difference between the hydrogen-transport reaction step controlling hydrogen-induced, slow crack growth in the molecular hydrogen and the atomic-molecular hydrogen environments. Finally, a comparison is made between the kinetics of hydrogen-induced, slow crack growth observed in the presence of atomic-molecular hydrogen and the kinetics of known, possible hydrogen-transport reactions in an effort to identify the reaction step controlling hydrogen embrittlement in the presence of atomic hydrogen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

    Howard G. Nelson (Research Scientist) & Dell P. Williams (Research Scientist)

  2. Materials Division, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.

    Alan S. Tetelman (Division Chairman)

Authors
  1. Howard G. Nelson
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  2. Dell P. Williams
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  3. Alan S. Tetelman
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Nelson, H.G., Williams, D.P. & Tetelman, A.S. Embrittlement of a ferrous alloy in a partially dissociated hydrogen environment. Metall Trans 2, 953–959 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02664224

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02664224

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