Hydrogen content dependence of the contribution of dislocation-slip stability and carbide precipitation morphology to the hydrogen embrittlement property of high-strength martensitic steels

The contribution of dislocation-slip stability and carbide precipitation morphology to the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) property of tempered martensitic steels with low and high silicon contents (L-Si and H-Si) and oil-quenched martensitic steel (As-OQ), was evaluated by conducting slow strain rate tests. The order of dislocation-slip stability was the H-Si specimen > L-Si specimen > As-OQ specimen. The H-Si and As-OQ specimens had finely dispersed carbides inside prior austenite (γ) grains, whereas the L-Si specimen had coarsely dispersed carbides inside prior γ grains and on the boundaries. Notched specimens were charged with hydrogen in a range of low (0.19-0.31 ppm), medium (1.04-1.49 ppm), and high (2.17-2.33 ppm) hydrogen contents. The H-Si specimen had the highest HE property under the three hydrogen charging conditions. With the low and medium hydrogen charging conditions, the HE property of the L-Si specimen was higher than that of the As-OQ specimen, whereas their HE properties markedly declined to a similar level under the high hydrogen charging condition. The HE property of the L-Si specimen with increased dislocation-slip stability by applying stress relaxation was equivalent to that of the L-Si specimen under the high hydrogen charging condition. These results revealed that increasing dislocation-slip stability improved the HE property in the range of low to medium hydrogen charging. Under the high hydrogen charging condition, dislocation-slip stability did not contribute to improving the HE property, but it was found that the carbide precipitation morphology, particularly coarse carbides precipitated on prior γ grain boundaries, influenced the HE property.