Problems of fracture of metals in hydrogen-sulfide media

• Published in: Materials science (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 190 - 200
• Main Author: Khoma, M. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-11-2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alloy steels; Alloying effects; Alloys; Austenitic stainless steels; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromium; Corrosion; Corrosion effects; Corrosion resistance; Corrosion resistant steels; Fracture mechanics; Fracture toughness; High resistance; Hydrogen sulfide; Hydrogenation; Investigations; Low alloy steels; Materials fatigue; Materials Science; Media; Metal fatigue; Nonmetallic inclusions; Rare earth elements; Rare earth metals; Shape effects; Solid Mechanics; Stainless steel; Steel; Stress corrosion cracking; Structural Materials; Structural steels; Sulfur; Sulfur content; Thermodynamics; corrosion fatigue; corrosion cracking; hydrogen sulfide; NACE solution; low-alloy and stainless steels; hydrogen-induced cracking
• ISSN: 1068-820X; 1573-885X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11003-010-9277-1

We consider the principal types of fracture of steels in hydrogen-sulfide media and the methods used for their investigation. The analysis of the available literature on hydrogen-sulfide corrosion cracking of low-alloy structural steels shows that, in order to guarantee their high fracture resistance, it is necessary to decrease the sulfur content of these steels to 0.002–0.005%. The procedure of alloying of steels with rare-earth metals, as a result of which nonmetallic inclusions take globular shape and sulfur is bound in thermodynamically stable sulfides, also gives a positive effect. It is demonstrated that the ferritic-austenitic and chromium-nickel-molybdenum austenitic steels exhibit the highest resistance to hydrogen-sulfide cracking among stainless steels. It is also established that, under asymmetric stresses, the high resistance of steels to hydrogen-sulfide stress-corrosion cracking does not guarantee their high corrosionfatigue strength and, in this case, the influence of the amplitude of stresses is stronger than the influence of the mean value. The directions of subsequent investigations of the influence of hydrogen-sulfide and chloride media on the serviceability of metals are outlined.