Hydrogen Delayed Fracture Properties and Internal Hydrogen Behavior of a Fe-18Mn-1.5Al-0.6C TWIP Steel

The hydrogen delayed fracture (HDF) properties and internal hydrogen behavior were investigated in a Fe-18Mn-15Al-0.6C steel, a representative twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) aided steel. Slow strain rate tests (SSRT) were employed on both smooth and notched specimens to evaluate the effects of diffusible hydrogen on the HDF properties of the steel. Results showed that the fracture stress, fracture strain and time to fracture of the hydrogen pre-charged specimens were relatively insensitive to the amount of diffusible hydrogen. Fracture surface exhibited a ductile dimple fracture mode regardless of the diffusible hydrogen concentration. It was found that most hydrogen became non-diffusible after SSRT The major trapping sites of hydrogen were dislocations, grain boundaries and twins. The activation energies for detrapping of hydrogen were estimated 35 kJ/mol for dislocations or grain boundaries, and 62 kJ/mol for twins. A comparison of the HDF properties of the present steel with those of other high strength steels revealed that the TWIP steel appeared to be relatively immune to hydrogen delayed fracture. This was due to the combined effects of (a) higher hydrogen solubility of austenite matrix (b) negligible portion of diffusible hydrogen to the total hydrogen, (c) decrease of diffusible hydrogen content during the deformation, and (d) no transformation of austenite to either epsilon or alpha' martensite.