Hydrogen Diffusion and Trapping Behaviour in DP Steels: An Electrochemical Hydrogen Permeation Study
Authors: Sudharsan S , Reddy Kallem Shekar , Govindaraj Yoganandan , Neelakantan Lakshman 
Published: February 2024

Advanced high-strength steels (AHSSs) are widely used in the automotive industry as they possess high strength-to-weight ratio. This allows designing light vehicles with better passenger safety, lower fuel consumption, and CO2emissions. Dual-phase (DP) steels are very attractive among the AHSSs because of their optimal combination of high tensile strength (up to 1.2 GPa), high ductility (10 % or more), and good formability due to their two-phase microstructure (ferrite and martensite). However, the use of DP steel is associated with an increased risk of mechanical degradation in the presence of hydrogen environment, i.e., hydrogen embrittlement (HE). The HE susceptibility of DP steel is mainly determined by hydrogen entry, diffusion, and trapping events in the microstructure (i.e., hydrogen interaction with metal). There are various methods to study the above mechanism in metals like hydrogen charging-tensile test, thermal desorption spectroscopy, silver decoration, scanning kelvin probe microscopy, electrochemical hydrogen permeation, etc. Among these, electrochemical hydrogen permeation using Devanathan - Stachurski (DS) cell is a simple and most widely used technique.

In this work, electrochemical hydrogen permeation was used to understand the role of microstructural features on hydrogen diffusion and trapping behaviour in DP-980 steel. It was identified that the phase fraction and its morphological features influence the hydrogen diffusion behaviour. The challenges in layout, design and integration of conventional DS cell into a tensometer and the effect of pre-strain (ex-situ) and tensile stress (in-situ) loading on hydrogen diffusion and trapping in DP-980 will be discussed. The applied elastic stress (i.e., 50 % of YS) during the permeation test resulted in a slight increase in Dapp from 5.4 ± 0.1 × 10- 7 to 5.9 ± 0.69×10-7 cm2s-1 and a slight reduction in NT from 1.08 ± 0.01 × 1021 to 1.0 ± 0.13× 1021 sites cm-3 compared to the no-stress condition. At 110 % of YS, the highest value of iss is 169 ±10.6 (µAcm-2) and a significant increase in the value of Capp to 3.6 ± 0.3 × 10-4 (molHcm-3 ), whereas no significant change in values of Dapp and NT were observed at 110 % YS compared to no stress and 50 % of YS. This could be due to the elastic deformation of martensite at 110 % of YS. The lattice expansion of martensite under elastic tensile stress can accommodate more interstitial hydrogen, thereby higher steady-state permeation current is observed. At 125 % of YS, the value of Dapp (2.86×10-7 cm2s-1) is approximately 50 % less compared to the value observed for the un-stressed specimen (5.4 ± 0.1×10-7 cm2s- 1). The value of NT (2.11×1021 cm-3) is approximately two times higher than that of the value (1.08×1021 cm-3 ). Plastic deformation of both ferrite and martensite results in increased dislocation density (hydrogen trap sites) at 125 % of YS. The sample failed during the hydrogen permeation test and when it is subjected to 125 % YS. It exhibited distinct fractographic features along the thickness of the sample. Quasi-cleavage and intergranular cracks were observed near the cathodic surface. Whereas, dimples and microvoids which are complete ductile features, were observed near the anodic surface. At 125 % of YS a significant decrease in the value of DL 0.6×10-6 cm2s-1 was observed. Whereas the value of NTrev increased to 4.0 ± 0.2×1019 cm-3 from 3.0 ± 0.15×1019 cm-3.

An attempt was made to study the hydrogen transport behaviour at the local spot by appropriate modification of conventional DS cell. The fabrication challenges and the potential application of such an instrument will be elucidated.