Chemical heterogeneity enhances hydrogen resistance in high-strength steels

Sun, B and Lu, W and Gault, B and Ding, R and Makineni, SK and Wan, D and Wu, C-H and Chen, H and Ponge, D and Raabe, D (2021) Chemical heterogeneity enhances hydrogen resistance in high-strength steels. In: Nature Materials .

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Abstract

The antagonism between strength and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement in metallic materials is an intrinsic obstacle to the design of lightweight yet reliable structural components operated in hydrogen-containing environments. Economical and scalable microstructural solutions to this challenge must be found. Here, we introduce a counterintuitive strategy to exploit the typically undesired chemical heterogeneity within the material�s microstructure that enables local enhancement of crack resistance and local hydrogen trapping. We use this approach in a manganese-containing high-strength steel and produce a high dispersion of manganese-rich zones within the microstructure. These solute-rich buffer regions allow for local micro-tuning of the phase stability, arresting hydrogen-induced microcracks and thus interrupting the percolation of hydrogen-assisted damage. This results in a superior hydrogen embrittlement resistance (better by a factor of two) without sacrificing the material�s strength and ductility. The strategy of exploiting chemical heterogeneities, rather than avoiding them, broadens the horizon for microstructure engineering via advanced thermomechanical processing. © 2021, The Author(s).

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Nature Materials
Publisher:	Nature Research
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Nature Research
Keywords:	Chemical resistance; Hydrogen; Hydrogen embrittlement; Microcracks; Microstructure; Solvents; Strength of materials; Thermomechanical treatment, Chemical heterogeneities; Embrittlement resistance; Hydrogen resistance; Metallic material; Microstructure engineering; Strength and ductilities; Structural component; Thermo-mechanical processing, High strength steel
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	18 Oct 2021 09:59
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2021 09:59
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/69703

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