Hydrogen embrittlement of a medium carbon Q&P steel

Abstract

In the last years the development of innovative steels with a better combination of strength and ductility has been focused on the obtainment of multiphase microstructures containing austenite. Quenched and Partitioned (Q&P) steels, recently introduced as alternative to the conventional advanced high strength automotive steels or to medium carbon structural steels, are the subject of the present research. In this study, the hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of a medium carbon Q&P steel has been evaluated and compared to that of conventional Quench and Tempered steel with the same chemical composition and similar ultimate tensile stress (UTS). Slow Strain Rate Tensile (SSRT) tests performed on samples electrochemically charged at different hydrogen contents have shown that Q&P steels have a higher hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility than conventional ones.