Study on Hydrogen Effect in TIG Welded Stainless Steel

Abstract

: A stainless steel has high corrosion resistance because of nickel in material, so it is used as materials for transportation and storage of hydrogen. In this study, TIG(tungsten ingot gas) welding was carried out on the stainless steel using the storage vessel of hydrogen. The microscopic structures at each region of TIG welded material such as HAZ, weld and base metals using optical microscope were observed. And the damage behavior of stainless steel that underwent the hydrogen charging using nondestructive evaluation was also studied. Ultrasonic test, which is the most generalized nondestructive technique, was applied to evaluate the relationship between the ultrasonic wave and mechanical properties at each zone of TIG welded stainless steel. The velocity and attenuation coefficients of ultrasonic wave didn’t show a remarkable difference at each region of welded stainless steel. However, the attenuation coefficient was the highest at the weld zone when hydrogen charged stainless steel. In addition, acoustic emission test was also used to study the dynamic behavior of stainless steel experienced both hydrogen charging and weld. Lots of AE event at elastic region of stress-strain curve were occurred both the hydrogen charged specimen and the free specimen. Weld, Hydrogen Charging, Nondestructive Evaluation, Ultrasonic Test, Acoustic Emission Test, AE Event