Hydrogen Environment Assisted Cracking of Modern Ultra-High Strength Martensitic Steels

Martensitic steels (Aermet®100, Ferrium®M54™, Ferrium®S53®, and experimental CrNiMoWV at ultra-high yield strength of 1550 to 1725 MPa) similarly resist hydrogen environment assisted cracking (HEAC) in aqueous NaCl. Cracking is transgranular, ascribed to increased steel purity and rare earth addition compared to intergranular HEAC in highly susceptible 300M. Nano-scale precipitates ((Mo,Cr)2C and (W,V)C) reduce H diffusivity and the K-independent Stage II growth rate by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude compared to 300M. However, threshold KTH is similarly low (8 to 15 MPa√m) for each steel at highly cathodic and open circuit potentials. Transgranular HEAC likely occurs along martensite packet and {110}α′-block interfaces, speculatively governed by localized plasticity and H decohesion. Martensitic transformation produces coincident site lattice interfaces; however, a connected random boundary network persists in 3D to negate interface engineering. The modern steels are near-immune to HEAC when mildly cathodically polarized, attributed to minimal crack tip H production and uptake. Neither reduced Co and Ni in M54 and CrNiMoWV nor increased Cr in S53 broadly degrade HEAC resistance compared to baseline AM100. The latter suggests that crack passivity dominates acidification to widen the polarization window for HEAC resistance. Decohesion models predict the applied potential dependencies of KTH and da/dtII with a single-adjustable parameter, affirming the importance of steel purity and trap sensitive H diffusivity.