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Effect of Hydrogen on Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of High-Strength Bainitic Steel in Marine Application

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Abstract

The mechanical properties and microstructural evolution of high-strength bainitic steel before and after hydrogen charging were investigated by nanoindentation creep tests and multiscale morphology observations. The results showed that hydrogen charging led to higher local nanoindentation hardness and lower stress exponent of the steel. The elongation of the material decreased, and the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement increased after charging. SEM observation showed that the presence of hydrogen changes the material’s fracture characteristics from ductile to a mixture of ductile and transgranular cleavage fracture. TEM and SADP analysis indicated that the energetically favorable and stress-promoted hydrogen induced the enhanced dislocation activity in the lath, and the hydrogen might accumulate at the interface between the harder M-A and the softer substrate, as well as at GB. The influence of hydrogen on material properties is caused by the interaction of hydrogen-induced local hardening and hydrogen-induced cracking.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51801098, 51904156), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20201040), Ten thousand talents project of Zhejiang (2019R52056), and the Industry-University-Research Cooperation Project of Jiangsu Province (BY2020383).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211167, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen Zhang, Anzhe Wang, Wei Zhao & Zhixin Ba

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Structural Materials and Application Technology, Nanjing, 211167, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen Zhang, Anzhe Wang, Wei Zhao & Zhixin Ba

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengfei Hu

  4. Research Institute of Baoshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd, Shanghai, 201900, People’s Republic of China

    Shan Gao

  5. Hengdian Group DMEGC Magnetics Co., Ltd, Jinhua, 322118, China

    Yuping Li

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  1. Zhen Zhang
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ZZ: Writing original draft, project administration and funding acquisition. AW and WZ: Review & editing and funding acquisition. ZB: Resources, review & editing. ZH: TEM and data analysis. SG: Sample supplying.

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Zhang, Z., Wang, A., Zhao, W. et al. Effect of Hydrogen on Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of High-Strength Bainitic Steel in Marine Application. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 31, 4909–4924 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-021-06544-z

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