Abstract
High-strength steels are sensitive to an environment, and in particular hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is an important issue to overcome. In this investigation, nanoindentation tests were performed in a high-strength steel, JIS SCM435: some samples were cathodically hydrogen charged, and the influence of hydrogen on the nanoscopic deformation behavior was investigated. When the applied load was higher than 3mN, no influence of cathodic charging was observed. However, when the applied load was smaller than 1mN, calculated average hardness values became higher in a cathodically charged sample than in a non-charged sample.
