Abstract
The cathodic charging of hydrogen into 4340 steel produces damage which ranges from reversible to irreversible, depending on the fugacity level of the charging. Fracture face morphology, (EDAX) and Auger spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to examine static fatigue, notch tensile, and ordinary tensile samples in various tempered and annealed conditions. The critical current densities for irreversible damage are between 0.1 and 0.5 mA/ cm2 and at about 10 mA/cm2 for As2O5 and thiourea-poisoned 1 N H2SO4 solutions, respectively, over a period of up to 3 hr. Fracture is intergranular for low fugacity charging but becomes transgranular for higher concentrations and fugacities of hydrogen. High fugacity hydrogen increased dislocation density and formed dislocation substructures. Cracks were nucleated at or just below external surfaces without external applied stress during charging and/or subsequent aging and baking treatments.
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Shim, IO., Byrne, J.G. Microstructural response of 4340 Steel to hydrogen charging. J. Materials Engineering 12, 235–244 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02834499
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02834499