Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of SUS304 stainless steel single crystals deformed at 293K or 196K was investigated under constant-loading conditions with cathodic charging. The specimens oriented for [001], [101], [111], [112] and 0.50 in Schmid factor were prepared, and their susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement was evaluated from the threshold stress to fracture.
When the specimens were prestrained at 273K, no specimen was fractured except the [111]-oriented specimen having the 45% prestrain. However, all the specimens having the>20% prestrain at 196K have the threshold stresses and each value corresponds to about 30% of the yield strength (0.2% off-set). These results imply that the hydrogen embrittlement under constant-loading test occurred only on the specimens with a large amount of martensite induced by low temperature deformation.