The effects of alloy 718 microstructure on hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility and tensile fracture mode were assessed through slow strain rate tensile testing and fracture surface analysis. Alloy 718 was annealed and aged to produce microstructures with variations in grain size and amount of grain boundary precipitates. Furthermore, the different ageing conditions likely resulted in differences in volume fractions and sizes of γ′ and γ′′ precipitates. The extent of grain boundary precipitation had the strongest effect on hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility, while grain size did not have any significant effect. Hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility was also correlated with differences in strength level, which was primarily controlled by the γ′ and γ′′ precipitate populations.

Safe and efficient hydrogen storage and distribution are key attributes to realizing hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier to traditional fossil fuels. To this end, cryogenic liquid and cryo-compressed gaseous hydrogen are considered high energy density alternatives to ambient temperature gas. However, these alternatives have significant material demands to overcome extreme temperature (20 K) and pressure (700 bar) as well as hydrogen effects. Austenitic stainless steels are widely used for cryogenic pressure vessels owing to relatively high ductility even at 4 K. However, the influence of hydrogen on mechanical properties at cryogenic temperatures has rarely been studied. In this study, the tensile properties of 304L austenitic stainless steel with internal hydrogen were evaluated at 20 K, 77 K, and 113 K. Test specimens were saturated with internal hydrogen to concentration of 140 wtppm in a high pressure environment at elevated temperature, a process called thermal precharging. While lower temperature in known to increase strength properties and reduced elongation at fracture, the presence of internal hydrogen increased both strength and elongation at fracture, but reduced ductility. Magnetic evaluation of the uniformly strained region of the test specimens suggest that hydrogen mitigates the strain-induced transformation to α’-martensite. Brittle fracture features and secondary cracking indicative of hydrogen embrittlement were observed on the fracture surfaces of hydrogen-precharged specimens, which is consistent with the loss of ductility.

Limited fatigue data exists for small-volume welded austenitic stainless steel components typically employed in hydrogen infrastructure due to the difficulty of testing these components with conventional specimen designs. To assess the fatigue performance of orbital tube welds of austenitic stainless steels, a hole-drilled tubular specimen was designed to produce a stress concentration in the center of the orbital weld. Fatigue life testing was performed on welded and non-welded 316L stainless steel hole-drilled tubular specimens, and the effects of hydrogen were evaluated by testing specimens with no added hydrogen and with internal hydrogen introduced through gaseous precharging. When accounting for the differences in flow stress caused by microstructural variations and the presence of internal hydrogen, the total fatigue life and fatigue crack initiation life of the welded and non-welded tubes were comparable and were reduced by internal hydrogen. In addition, the fatigue life results produced with the hole drilled tubular specimens were consistent with fatigue life data from circumferentially notched stainless steel specimens that have a similar elastic stress concentration factor. To better understand the mechanics of this specimen geometry, mechanics modeling was performed to compare the stress and strain distributions that develop at the stress concentration in the hole-drilled tubular and circumferentially notched specimens during fatigue cycling.

High strength austenite-ferrite duplex stainless steels are a potential alternative to austenitic stainless steels for components in hydrogen gas storage systems. Since these components experience cyclic loading from frequent pressurization and depressurization, the effect of hydrogen on the fatigue behavior of duplex stainless steel must be understood. To determine the influence of hydrogen on fatigue crack initiation and fatigue life of a 255 super duplex stainless steel, circumferentially notched tensile (CNT) specimens were fatigue tested in the as-received condition in air, with pre-charged internal hydrogen in air, and in the as-received condition in high pressure hydrogen gas. The direct current potential difference (DCPD) method was used to detect crack initiation so that S-N curves could be produced for both (i) cycles to crack initiation and (ii) cycles to failure. An electropolished CNT specimen was also cycled in the as-received and hydrogen pre-charged conditions but interrupted just after crack initiation. The microstructural locations of small fatigue cracks were then identified with scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). High pressure hydrogen gas and pre-charged hydrogen decreased the fatigue life of 255 duplex stainless steel by a nearly identical amount. The effects of hydrogen on fatigue crack initiation and fatigue life of 255 duplex stainless steel are discussed and compared to austenitic stainless steels.

Despite their susceptibility to hydrogen-assisted fracture, ferritic steels make up a large portion of the hydrogen infrastructure. It is impractical and too costly to build large scale components such as pipelines and pressure vessels out of more hydrogen-resistant materials such as austenitic stainless steels. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fracture behavior of ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen environments to manage design margins and reduce costs. Quenched and tempered (Q&T) martensite is the predominant microstructure of high-pressure hydrogen pressure vessels, and higher strength grades of this steel type are more susceptible to hydrogen degradation than lower strength grades. In this study, a single heat of 4340 alloy was heat treated to develop alternative microstructures for evaluation of fracture resistance in hydrogen gas. Fracture tests of several microstructures, such as lower bainite and upper bainite with similar strength to the baseline Q&T martensite, were tested at 21 and 105 MPa H2. Despite a higher MnS inclusion content in the tested 4340 alloy which reduced the fracture toughness in air, the fracture behavior in hydrogen gas fit a similar trend to other previously tested Q&T martensitic steels. The lower bainite microstructure performed similar to the Q&T martensite, whereas the upper bainite microstructure performed slightly worse. In this paper, we extend the range of high-strength microstructures evaluated for hydrogen-assisted fracture beyond conventional Q&T martensitic steels.