Young Jin Kwon

Role of Mo/V carbides in hydrogen embrittlement of tempered martensitic steel

Abstract The vulnerability of tempered martensitic steel to hydrogen embrittlement (HE) has attracted attention from a number of researchers. Although utilizing carbide precipitation is one of effective methods to improve HE resistance, few studies have focused on the effects of carbide characteristics, such as the chemical composition and morphology of carbide. This work clarifies the role of Mo carbide and V carbide in the HE behavior of tempered martensitic steels with four steels whose chemical composition was carefully controlled. The beneficial effect of carbides is discussed in terms of hydrogen trapping and fracture mode. The low amount of trapped hydrogen and undissolved carbide led to excellent HE resistance of Mo carbides compared to V carbides. In addition, the superior mechanical performance of Cr-Mo steel was also interpreted by the effect of Cr addition as well as Mo carbides.

Effects of vanadium carbides on hydrogen embrittlement of tempered martensitic steel

Precipitation of V carbides is known to suppress the hydrogen-embrittlement (HE) phenomenon as well as to increase material strength. Despite increasing attention to V carbides, there have been few systematic and quantitative investigations on their effects on HE resistance. This study reveals the role of V carbides on the HE behavior of tempered martensitic steel while eliminating other factors, such as chemical composition of other elements, mechanical strength, and dislocation density. The amount of trapped hydrogen increased with increasing V content, whereas the best HE resistance was attained at 0.2 wt% V and it decreased with further V addition. V carbide was considered as a non-diffusible hydrogen-trapping site in this study. However, excessive V content led to the formation of large undissolved carbides that gave rise to brittle fracture and decreased HE resistance. This study suggests that improved HE resistance can be achieved by minimizing the size and amount of undissolved V carbides.

Prediction of hole expansion ratio for various steel sheets based on uniaxial tensile properties

Stretch-flangeability is one of important formability parameters of thin steel sheets used in the automotive industry. There have been many attempts to predict hole expansion ratio (HER), a typical term to evaluate stretch-flangeability, using uniaxial tensile properties for convenience. This paper suggests a new approach that uses total elongation and average normal anisotropy to predict HER of thin steel sheets. The method provides a good linear relationship between HER of the machined hole and the predictive variables in a variety of materials with different microstructures obtained using different processing methods. The HER of the punched hole was also well predicted using the similar approach, which reflected only the portion of post uniform elongation. The physical meaning drawn by our approach successfully explained the poor HER of austenitic steels despite their considerable elongation. The proposed method to predict HER is simple and cost-effective, so it will be useful in industry. In addition, the model provides a physical explanation of HER, so it will be useful in academia.