The Weakest Link: Degradation of a weld through interaction with hydrogen
Abstract
This work evaluates the effect of hydrogen on welds in martensitic steels. In-situ constant-load tensile testing of a weld of HB450 steel shows that hydrogen-induced cracks appear in the filler material, which is capable of trapping the highest amount of hydrogen, as indicated by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Further crack propagation takes place in the part of the heat affected zone (HAZ) with the highest hardness.

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