Influence of stress re-distribution on hydrogen-induced fatigue crack propagation

In order to clarify influence of stress re-distribution effect on hydrogen-induced fatigue crack propagation, we investigated fatigue crack propagation rates and brittle-like fracture ratio. The experiments were conducted in nitrogen and hydrogen gas atmosphere with ferrite-pearlite steels having different pearlite ratio, respectively. The crack propagation rates and the brittle-like fracture ratio decreased as pearlite ratio increased. To explain the changes of crack propagation rates and fracture ratio, we proposed that the stress re-distribution effect causing stress and strain relaxation at a crack tip contributes to suppression of the hydrogen-induced fatigue crack propagation. As a verification, finite element methods were operated with models having different width of the hard phase and different distance between a crack tip and a hard phase in plane stress and strain conditions, respectively. The finite element method analysis showed that stress re-distribution effect was smaller in plane strain condition than that in plane stress condition, indicating that a large hardness difference is crucial in plane stress condition to suppress the hydrogen-induced fatigue crack propagation.