Fatigue crack propagation under gaseous hydrogen in a precipitation-hardened martensitic stainless steel

A test device has been developed at P′ Institute in order to investigate the mechanical behaviour of structural materials under high pressure of gaseous hydrogen. In this paper, preliminary results on fatigue crack propagation in a martensitic stainless steel are presented. A tremendous fatigue crack growth enhancement is observed at high pressure (9 MPa). This enhancement is dependent of pressure. It is noticed that the maximum enhancement is associated with a brittle fracture mode. However no intergranular decohesion is noticed in this regime.

► Development of a test device dedicated to the mechanical behaviour of structural materials under high pressure of gaseous hydrogen.
► Investigation of the influence of gaseous hydrogen on fatigue crack growth rates in a martensitic stainless steel.
► Relation with on-going work with modelling activity of hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack growth based on cohesive zone models.