On the role of crystallographic texture in mitigating hydrogen-induced cracking in pipeline steels

Cathodic hydrogen charging was applied to low-carbon pipeline-steel samples produced using different thermomechanical paths. The samples developed similar microstructures but different crystallographic textures and grain–boundary distributions. This made it possible to investigate the resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC) of steels with strong {1 1 1}ND and {1 1 2}ND texture fibres, steels with a dominating {0 0 1}ND texture fibre, and steels with close-to-random textures; {h k l}ND representing grain orientations with {h k l} planes parallel to the steel rolling plane. The results show that strong {1 1 1}ND fibre textures produced by warm-rolling schedules significantly increase HIC-resistance of pipeline steels, whereas {0 0 1}ND and close-to-random textures make steels HIC-prone.

► New experimental evidence is given of the role of crystallographic texture in HIC.
► Pipeline steel samples with different crystallographic textures were studied.
► The susceptibility of these samples to HIC was studied using cathodic charging.
► Strong {1 1 1}ND fibre textures produced by warm rolling raise the HIC-resistance.
► {0 0 1}ND and close-to-random textures make the pipeline steels more HIC-prone.