Ductility and Fatigue Strength Loss of a Hydrogen-Charged 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel

The susceptibility of 316L-type austenite stainless steel to hydrogen was quantified by means of SSRT results and low-cycle fatigue life measurement. Both tests were conducted in the air condition after being charged with high-pressure hydrogen gas of 10 MPa and a temperature of 300°C for 120 hours. In addition, SSRT tests in gaseous hydrogen at a pressure of 10 MPa were also performed and compared to the tests conducted in hydrogen pre-charged and as-received conditions. The 0.2% yield strength and tensile strength did not show there to be a considerable difference between hydrogen pre-charging and the as-received conditions, whereas the gaseous hydrogen condition revealed a remarkable degradation in tensile properties, especially in terms of fracture elongation. In the case of fatigue life test, a considerable influence of hydrogen pre-charging in fatigue life properties was observed in the high strain amplitude regime whereas the measured values in the low strain deformation region are consistently comparable to that in the as-received condition. Fatigue limit was not affected by hydrogen pre-charging.