Strong hydrogen trapping by tangled dislocations in cold-drawn pearlitic steels
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The presence of diffusible hydrogen atoms can lead to hydrogen embrittlement in steels, compromising their structural integrity. A potential solution is incorporating strong hydrogen traps into the microstructures to immobilize hydrogen solute atoms and prevent their diffusion towards stress-prone areas where embrittlement is most likely to occur. However, creating materials with effective hydrogen traps usually involves adding expensive alloying elements, which increase the production costs, hindering the adoption of this strategy in the steel industry. Here we show that cold drawing of pearlitic steel rods introduces a high density of dislocations that accumulate and tangle at cementite-ferrite interfaces; this strengthens the steel and make it less susceptible to embrittlement. We use atom probe tomography to confirm that these tangled dislocations firmly trap hydrogen in a steel that displays low embrittlement susceptibility. Our findings suggest a pathway for producing metallic materials that have an excellent combination of high strength and hydrogen embrittlement resistance, underscoring the potential of using structural defects as cost-effective hydrogen traps.
Date Issued
2025-09-01
Date Acceptance
2025-06-07
Citation
Acta Materialia, 2025, 296
ISSN
1359-6454
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Acta Materialia
Volume
296
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121231
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
121231
Date Publish Online
2025-06-07