Abstract
Despite their susceptibility to hydrogen-assisted fracture, ferritic steels make up a large portion of the hydrogen infrastructure. It is impractical and too costly to build large scale components such as pipelines and pressure vessels out of more hydrogen-resistant materials such as austenitic stainless steels. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fracture behavior of ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen environments to manage design margins and reduce costs. Quenched and tempered (Q&T) martensite is the predominant microstructure of high-pressure hydrogen pressure vessels, and higher strength grades of this steel type are more susceptible to hydrogen degradation than lower strength grades. In this study, a single heat of 4340 alloy was heat treated to develop alternative microstructures for evaluation of fracture resistance in hydrogen gas. Fracture tests of several microstructures, such as lower bainite and upper bainite with similar strength to the baseline Q&T martensite, were tested at 21 and 105 MPa H2. Despite a higher MnS inclusion content in the tested 4340 alloy which reduced the fracture toughness in air, the fracture behavior in hydrogen gas fit a similar trend to other previously tested Q&T martensitic steels. The lower bainite microstructure performed similar to the Q&T martensite, whereas the upper bainite microstructure performed slightly worse. In this paper, we extend the range of high-strength microstructures evaluated for hydrogen-assisted fracture beyond conventional Q&T martensitic steels.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Materials and Fabrication |
Publisher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780791886182 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2022 |
Event | ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, PVP 2022 - Las Vegas, United States Duration: Jul 17 2022 → Jul 22 2022 |
Publication series
Name | American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pressure Vessels and Piping Division (Publication) PVP |
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Volume | 4-B |
ISSN (Print) | 0277-027X |
Conference
Conference | ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, PVP 2022 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Las Vegas |
Period | 07/17/22 → 07/22/22 |
Funding
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). Any subjective views or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.