Determination of the hydrogen concentration in steel by means of TDS, electrochemical microcapillary technique and MatCalc simulations

Abstract

When atomic hydrogen is absorbed in steels, it can cause severe damage, such as brittle failure under applied stress well below the tensile strength, crack formation, or ductility loss. These phenomena are often referred to as hydrogen-induced stress corrosion cracking or hydrogen embrittlement. In order to control hydrogen degradation, it is fundamental to be able to detect the damage-causing diffusible hydrogen inside the steel microstructure.Within the scope of this thesis, the H-Pen device and a TDS were used to determine the hydrogen uptake of steel microstructure. In addition, computational simulations by means of MatCalc were undertaken to determine the diffusion and trapping of hydrogen in steel microstructure. Finally, the results obtained from the H-Pen were verified by means of TDS and the MatCalc simulations.