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Effect of Hydrogen and Magnetic Field on the Mechanical Behavior of High Strength AISI 4340 Steel

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Abstract

Presence of hydrogen in materials is known to affect their mechanical properties due to hydrogen embrittlement problem. Steels used in various applications are prone to be exposed to aqueous electrochemical environments, which may introduce hydrogen into the alloy. These alloys are also prone to be simultaneously exposed to magnetic field, which may affect the hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of these alloys. Therefore, it is important to examine the effect of hydrogen and magnetic field on the mechanical behavior of iron-based alloys. In this work, the effect of hydrogen and magnetic field on the fracture behavior of high strength AISI 4340 steel was examined. Three-point bend test was used to study the fracture behavior. In all the cases, the samples tested with hydrogen charging show a drastic reduction in ductility and fracture stress values. The effect of magnetic field was seen to be negligible. The hydrogen embrittlement was characterized by a change in the fracture surface from a ductile-type fracture to a brittle cleavage-type fracture. Acoustic emission signals collected during the test corresponds to the fracture behavior.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of this work by the National Science Foundation through the award DMR-0854166 and by the University of Utah.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Utah, 135 S 1460 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0114, USA

    Meenakshisundaram Ramanathan, Biswadeep Saha, Chai Ren & Sivaraman Guruswamy

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, University of Utah, 135 S 1460 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0114, USA

    Michael McCarter

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  1. Meenakshisundaram Ramanathan
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  2. Biswadeep Saha
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  3. Chai Ren
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Correspondence to Sivaraman Guruswamy.

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Ramanathan, M., Saha, B., Ren, C. et al. Effect of Hydrogen and Magnetic Field on the Mechanical Behavior of High Strength AISI 4340 Steel. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 22, 1028–1034 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-012-0343-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-012-0343-8

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