Effects of Cold Work on Hydrogen Induced Cracking and Hydrogen Embrittlement of Iron Single Crystal

Abstract

The effects of cold work on Hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) and hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of iron single crystal were studied by cathodic charging tests with or without loading. The hydrogen induced cracks were produced at six kinds of {110} planes in the annealed specimen, while those cracks were produced at both primary and secondary slip planes in the prestrained one.
When the stress more than the threshold one was applied, many hydrogen induced cracks were produced at the (110) plane, which was nearly perpendicular to the loading axis, in both the annealed and prestrained specimens. These hydrogen induced cracks connected each other with dimple or quasi-cleavage cracks, and then the specimen finally fractured due to hydrogen embrittlement.