Effects of stress and plastic strain on hydrogen embrittlement fracture of a U-bent martensitic steel sheet

The effects of stress and plastic strain distributions on the hydrogen embrittlement fracture of the U-bent martensitic steel sheet specimen were investigated. The hydrogen embrittlement testing of the U-bent specimen was performed. Fracture morphology mainly consisting of intergranular fracture was found inside the hydrogen charged U-bent specimen, which indicated that the crack initiation took place in the interior, and shear lips were found near both surfaces of the U-bent sheet. The synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurement and the finite element simulation were utilized to analyze the stress and plastic strain distributions in the thickness direction of the U-bent specimen. The elastic strain distributions obtained by the measurement showed a good agreement with the simulation. The crack initiation site of the hydrogen-charged U-bent specimen was considered to be correspondent with the region where the tensile stress was the highest, suggesting that the maximum tensile stress predominantly determine the crack initiation. (author)