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Journal of Materials Science, vol.22, no.6, pp.2105-2112, 1987 (Scopus)
Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) tests were carried out on a carbon-manganese pipeline steel having a low sulphur content (<0.01%). It was shown that the susceptibility to HE increased as the microstructures changed from ferrite-pearlite to martensite. In the hydrogenated state the fracture surface of the ferrite-pearlite and ferrite-bainite specimens consisted of small cleavage regions surrounding non-metallic (oxide) inclusions; these were called rosettes and were a characteristic feature of the embrittled state. In hydrogenated martensitic specimens, failure was almost entirely intergranular along prior austenite grain boundaries and cracking of martensitic laths. In the martensitic specimens a relationship between inverse time to failure and prior austenite grain size was established. © 1987 Chapman and Hall Ltd.