Hydrogen Effect against Hydrogen Embrittlement

The well-known term hydrogen embrittlement (HE) expresses undesirable effects due to hydrogen such as loss of ductility, decreased fracture toughness, and degradation of fatigue properties of metals. However, this article shows, surprisingly, that hydrogen can have an effect against HE. A dramatic phenomenon was found in which charging a supersaturated level of hydrogen into specimens of austenitic stainless steels of types 304 and 316L drastically improved the fatigue crack growth resistance, rather than accelerating fatigue crack growth rates. Although this mysterious phenomenon has not previously been observed in the history of HE research, its mechanism can be understood as an interaction between hydrogen and dislocations. Hydrogen can play two roles in terms of dislocation mobility: pinning (or dragging) and enhancement of mobility. Competition between these two roles determines whether the resulting phenomenon is damaging or, unexpectedly, desirable. This finding will, not only be the crucial key factor to elucidate the mechanism of HE, but also be a trigger to review all existing theories on HE in which hydrogen is regarded as a dangerous culprit.