Abstract
The demands of high-strength steel have been steadily increased to reduce the weight of vehicles. Although the TRIP steel has been the promising candidate material for the purpose, high strength hinders the application due to the susceptibility to hydrogen delayed fracture in the corrosive environment. Moreover, the testing method was not specified in the ISO standards. In this work, the test method to evaluate the susceptibility of hydrogen delayed fracture was studied by slow strain rate testing technique. The four test experimental parameters were studied : strain rate, hydrogen charging time, holding time after hydrogen charging, and holding time after cadmium plating. The steel was fractured by hydrogen in case the strain rate was in the range of $1{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}5{\times}10^{-7}/sec$. It was confirmed that the slow strain rate test is effective method to evaluate the susceptibility to hydrogen delayed fracture. The holding time over 24 hrs after hydrogen charging, nullified the hydrogen effect, that is, the specimen was no more susceptible to hydrogen after 24 hrs even though the specimen was fully hydrogen-charged. Moreover, cadmium electroplating could not prevent from diffusing out the hydrogen from the steel in the experiment. The effective experimental procedures were discussed.