Effects of strain rate and notch geometry on hydrogen embrittlement of AISI type 316L austenitic stainless steel

✍ Scribed by J. Toribio

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 823 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0920-3796
• DOI: 10.1016/0920-3796(91)90213-a

✦ Synopsis

This paper presents the first results of the work which the author has been performing for the European Fusion Technology Programme. The contribution deals with the effects of strain rate and notch geometry on hydrogen embrittlement of 316L austenitic stainless steel, which will be used for the first wall of the next European fusion reactor.

Slow strain rate fracture tests on round notched specimens of 316L steel were carried out under cathodic polarization during the mechanical loading. A wide range of strain rates was covered in the tests, in order to obtain very different degrees of damage produced by the hydrogen. Two notch geometries with very different radii were used, to analyze the influence of the stress state in the vicinity of the notch tip on hydrogen embrittlement. Samples were machined in two directions (the rolling direction and the perpendicular one), thus permitting a study of anisotropy effects. Results are compared with those for a high-strength pearlitic steel tested with the same technique under the same electrochemical potential.