Influence of Cr on environmental hydrogen-induced delayed fracture performance of high-strength bolt steel in harsh service environment
摘要
This work aims to explore the effect of different Cr additions on environmental hydrogen-induced delayed fracture (E-HIDF) of medium-carbon high-strength bolt (HSB) steel. Slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests using notched round bar tensile samples pre-long-term immersed (EH-ex-situ) and in situ-immersed (EH-in situ) in a pH 3.5 Walpole acid solution were used to study the E-HIDF performance. The results show that the overall corrosion rate after 100-h-acid immersion decreases almost linearly with an increase in Cr content and uniform corrosion is the dominant corrosion mechanism. There are Cr enrichments in the rust layer of steels containing 1.2 and 2.1 wt% Cr. The ingress of hydrogen obviously deteriorates the E-HIDF resistance expressed by hydrogen-influenced notch tensile strength (NTS) which shows a decreasing trend with a rise in Cr content for both the EH-ex-situ and EH-in situ samples. The NTS of the EH-ex-situ sample is higher than that of the EH-in situ one. Despite a ~ 43% decrease in overall corrosion rate and the appearance of Cr enrichment in the rust layer with an increase in Cr content, the absorbed diffusible hydrogen content paradoxically increased from 1.72 wppm (0.5 wt% Cr) to 2.43 wppm (2.1 wt% Cr) after the 100-h-acid immersion. This is the primary reason for the detrimental effect of increasing Cr content on the E-HIDF resistance of the tested steel. The experimental results indicate a more complex relationship between Cr content, corrosion resistance and E-HIDF behavior, suggesting that simply increasing Cr content does not always lead to an anticipated improvement in E-HIDF resistance of HSB steel.