Abstract
In the present work, it was investigated a behavior of hydrogen embrittlement at the subsurface zones of 590 DP steels by using the micro-Vickers hardness test. The micro-Vickers hardnessess of DP steels were measured to evaluate the degree of embrittlement as the effective hardening depths of subsurface zones with hydrogen charging conditions. The results showed that the distributions of micro-Vickers hardness in width varied from maximum hardness 239.5 Hv to minimum hardness 174 Hv, while the depth of effective hardening layer at the subsurface zones of DP steels was from $320{\mu}m$ to $460{\mu}m$ with hydrogen charging conditions, respectively. It was proposed that the distribution of microhardness be used as the evaluation index of the degree of embrittlement. But the variations of martensite volume fractions were not affected along depth of hardening at the same changing time, hydrogen charging times were appeared as an effective factor of the degree of embrittlement. Therefore, the micro-Vickers hardness test is an attractive tool for evaluation of hydrogen embrittlement at the subsurface zones of these DP steels.
