Microstructural and crystallographic features of hydrogen-related fracture in lath martensitic steels

ABSTRACT

This paper summarised the microstructural and crystallographic features of hydrogen-related fracture under tensile deformation in martensitic steels. The specimens with relatively low strength exhibited quasi-cleavage fracture. Crystallographic orientation analysis demonstrated that the quasi-cleavage fracture occurred on {011} planes. On the other hand, the macroscopic fracture surface morphologies of the specimens with relatively high strength appeared to be intergranular-like. However, nature of the fracture was somewhat different from a typical intergranular fracture, and the fracture surfaces consisted of facets parallel to {011} planes on a microscopic level. Based on the experimental results, we concluded that the crystallographic feature of {011} plane itself had an important role on the hydrogen-related fracture.

This paper is part of a thematic issue on Hydrogen in Metallic Alloys

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrogen embrittlement
• steel
• quasi-cleavage fracture
• intergranular fracture
• lath martensite
• microstructure
• crystallography
• EBSD

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Akinobu Shibata http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8577-6411

Yuji Momotani http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3927-2794

Mizuki Tsuboi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9857-9377

Nobuhiro Tsuji http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2132-1327

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (No. 15H04158), and the Elements Strategy Initiative for Structural Materials (ESISM), both through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.