TY - GEN
T1 - INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF FERRITIC STEEL MICROSTRUCTURE AND STRENGTH IN FRACTURE RESISTANCE IN HIGH-PRESSURE HYDROGEN GAS
AU - Ronevich, Joseph A.
AU - Kagay, Brian
AU - Marchi, Chris San
AU - Wang, Yiyu
AU - Feng, Zhili
AU - Wang, Yanli
AU - Findley, Kip
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 by ASME and The United States Government.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142343934&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/PVP2022-83915
DO - 10.1115/PVP2022-83915
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85142343934
T3 - American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pressure Vessels and Piping Division (Publication) PVP
BT - Materials and Fabrication
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, PVP 2022
Y2 - 17 July 2022 through 22 July 2022
ER -
