Hydrogen desorption spectra from excess vacancy-type defects enhanced by hydrogen in tempered martensitic steel showing quasi-cleavage fracture

Saito, Kei*; Hirade, Tetsuya  ; Takai, Kenichi*

An attempt was made to separate and identify hydrogen peaks desorbed from lattice defects formed by plastic-strain in the presence of hydrogen in tempered martensitic steel showing quasi-cleavage fracture using thermal desorption spectroscopy from a low temperature (L-TDS) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). The L-TDS results made it possible to separate two peaks, namely, that of the original desorption and also that of new desorption. The PAS results revealed that the new desorption obtained by L-TDS corresponded to vacancy-type defects. Hydrogen enhanced vacancy-type defect concentration, approximately 10 order in terms of atomic ratio, formed within 1.5 mm from the fracture surface, These results indicate that the accumulation of excess vacancy-type defects enhanced by hydrogen in the local region can lead to nanovoid nucleation and coalescence in plastic deformation, resulting in quasi-cleavage fracture of tempered martensitic steel.