Stress Oriented Hydrogen Induced Cracking of Linepipe Steel

Abstract

The stress oriented hydrogen induced cracking (SOHIC) is a typical hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon occurring in the linepipe steels exposed to sour environment containing H(2)S gas. However, even recently, the cracking mechanism of SONIC has not been clarified because of lacking in the empirical data on the actual failure mode of SOH IC cracking. The factors affecting SOH IC are discussed in terms of metallurgy of high strength linepipe steel and hydrogen electrochemistry. The cracking mechanisms of SOHIC are examined by comparing them with the empirical failure mode of SOHIC which is developed by observation of the actual fracture sites of the hydrogen induced blister cracking (HIBC) and secondary cracks. Finally, the correlation between SOHIC and HIC is discussed.