Investigation on Hydrogen Embrittlement Sensitivity of Hot-Rolled and Annealed Microstructure to AISI 430 Ferritic Stainless Steel

This paper studied the influence of hot rolling and annealing processes on the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel and the changes in hydrogen-induced fracture modes through electrochemical hydrogen charging experiments. The tensile test results show that the hot-rolled specimen has the highest hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity, and the highest yield strength and tensile strength. After the heat treatment, the yield strength of all specimens was significantly increased after hydrogen charging, which was attributed to the hydrogen-induced dislocation pinning effect. The fracture morphology analysis revealed that the hot-rolled specimen was dominated by intergranular fracture, accompanied by cleavage fracture, predominantly by the hydrogen-enhanced decohesion (HEDE) mechanism, while the fracture modes of annealed specimen were cleavage fracture and quasi-cleavage fracture due to the hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) and hydrogen-enhanced decohesion (HEDE) mechanisms.