Influence of Microstructural Morphology on Hydrogen Embrittlement in a Medium-Mn Steel Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C
<p>Schematic illustration of thermal cycles on cold-rolled Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C steel after cold rolling (WQ denotes water cooling; CR denotes cold rolling).</p> "> Figure 2
<p>Electron backscatter diffraction measurement of initial microstructure in austenite-reverted-transformation annealed specimen, including (<b>a</b>) forescatter diode image, (<b>b</b>) phase distribution map, (<b>c</b>) inverse pole figure and (<b>d</b>) grain orientation spread image. The dashed box in (<b>a</b>) denotes the analyzed region for (<b>b</b>–<b>d</b>); red arrows in (<b>b</b>) indicates globular grains; white arrows marks the band-shaped lamellar grains.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>Electron backscatter diffraction measurement of initial microstructure in AUS + ART annealed specimen, including (<b>a</b>) forescatter diode image, (<b>b</b>) phase distribution map, (<b>c</b>) inverse pole figure and (<b>d</b>) grain orientation spread image. The dashed box in (<b>a</b>) denotes the analyzed region for (<b>b</b>–<b>d</b>); red arrows in (<b>b</b>) indicates globular grains; white arrows marks the band-shaped lamellar grains.</p> "> Figure 4
<p>Synchrotron X-ray diffraction profile of (<b>a</b>) austenite-reverted-transformation specimen; (<b>b</b>) AUS + ART specimen with increasing deformation degree. (<b>c</b>) volume fraction of austenite in samples in the as-annealed condition as well as taken from interrupted tensile tests at different strains.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>(<b>a</b>) Engineering stress-engineering strain curves; (<b>b</b>) true stress-true strain curves and strain-hardening curves of the medium-Mn steel Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C after heat treatment austenite-reverted-transformation (ART) and AUS + ART.</p> "> Figure 6
<p>Evaluation of mechanical degradation by ex-situ slow strain rate tensile test at a strain rate of 10<sup>−6</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> in (<b>a</b>) ART specimen; and (<b>b</b>) AUS + ART specimen.</p> "> Figure 7
<p>Hydrogen desorption rate as a function of temperature in (<b>a</b>) austenite-reverted-transformation (ART) specimen; and (<b>b</b>) AUS + ART specimen.</p> "> Figure 8
<p>Fracture surfaces at the edge region of austenite-reverted-transformation annealed specimens undergone slow strain rate tensile until fracture. (<b>a</b>) No H-charged state; (<b>b</b>) H-charged for 2 h with 3.07 ppm; (<b>c</b>) H-charged for 8 h with 10.03 ppm. (<b>d</b>) H-charged for 24 h with 25.92 ppm.</p> "> Figure 9
<p>Fracture surfaces at the edge region of AUS + ART annealed specimens experienced slow strain rate tensile. (<b>a</b>) No H-charged state; (<b>b</b>) H-charged for 2 h with 2.42 ppm; (<b>c</b>) H-charged for 8 h with 7.62 ppm. (<b>d</b>) H-charged for 24 h with 34.60 ppm.</p> "> Figure 10
<p>Hydrogen desorption rate as a function of temperature and the corresponding microstructural features.</p> "> Figure 11
<p>Grain orientation spread figures of (<b>a</b>) austenite-reverted-transformation (ART) and (<b>b</b>) AUS + ART specimens undergone slow strain rate tensile test after 24-h hydrogen charging.</p> ">
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Microstructure
3.1.1. Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) Analysis of Microstructure
3.1.2. Quantitative Analysis of Microstructure by Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction (SYXRD)
3.2. Mechanical Properties
3.2.1. Tensile Properties
3.2.2. Mechanical Degradation Due to Hydrogen Ingression
3.3. Hydrogen Uptake
3.4. Fractography
4. Discussion
4.1. Microstructure–Mechanical Properties Correlation
4.2. Influences of Microstrucal Morphology on Hydrogen Embrittlement in Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C Steels
4.3. Thermodynamic Assessment
5. Conclusions
- (1)
- A combination of austenitization annealing (AUS) and austenite-reversed transformation (ART) produced comparable mechanical properties (UTS = 891 MPa, Y.S. = 701 MPa, total elongation = 30.1%) as that in a routine where the ART annealing was applied immediately after cold rolling.
- (2)
- The ultrafine-grained martensite colonies provided a large number of interfaces (prior austenite boundaries and lath boundaries) for hydrogen trapping, which increased the hydrogen ingression.
- (3)
- ART specimen revealed a clear ductile-brittle transition with increasing hydrogen concentration. Hydrogen embrittlement is considered to be predominated by concurrent contribution of HEDE and HELP mechanisms.
- (4)
- AUS + ART specimen exhibited extremely high hydrogen susceptibility of the ductility regardless of hydrogen concentration. The brittle failure in H-charged samples was attributed to the HEDE mechanism in the UFG microstructure with a large number of interfaces, and to possible contribution by the AIDE mechanism.
- (5)
- Consideration of thermodynamic factors suggest that the failure discrepancy in the UFG and non-UFG specimens was likely to be related to the facilitation of hydrogen-rich phase precipitation by interfacial defects.
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Element | C | Si | Mn | P | S | Al | Fe |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
wt.% | 0.064 | 0.2 | 11.7 | 0.006 | 0.003 | 2.9 | Bal. |
Heat Treatment | UTS/MPa | A20/% | Effective Grain Size/μm | Austenite Fraction/% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
α’ Package | Globular Grains | ||||
ART | 811 | 30.1 | 10–20 | ~1.5 | 55.2 |
AUS + ART | 891 | 33.1 | 1–5 | ~1 | 53.1 |
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Shen, X.; Song, W.; Sevsek, S.; Ma, Y.; Hüter, C.; Spatschek, R.; Bleck, W. Influence of Microstructural Morphology on Hydrogen Embrittlement in a Medium-Mn Steel Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C. Metals 2019, 9, 929. https://doi.org/10.3390/met9090929
Shen X, Song W, Sevsek S, Ma Y, Hüter C, Spatschek R, Bleck W. Influence of Microstructural Morphology on Hydrogen Embrittlement in a Medium-Mn Steel Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C. Metals. 2019; 9(9):929. https://doi.org/10.3390/met9090929
Chicago/Turabian StyleShen, Xiao, Wenwen Song, Simon Sevsek, Yan Ma, Claas Hüter, Robert Spatschek, and Wolfgang Bleck. 2019. "Influence of Microstructural Morphology on Hydrogen Embrittlement in a Medium-Mn Steel Fe-12Mn-3Al-0.05C" Metals 9, no. 9: 929. https://doi.org/10.3390/met9090929