High-strength fasteners play a crucial role in maintaining the structural integrity in various applications. Unfortunately, they are highly sensitive to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). This research aims to improve the HE resistance of steel grade 32CrB4 by adding the carbide-forming elements titanium and vanadium. Three alloys are considered: alloy A (32CrB4), B (alloy A + Ti), and C (alloy B + V). The hydrogen-assisted mechanical degradation is evaluated by performing slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests with both ex- and in-situ hydrogen charging. The influence of hydrogen on the mechanical properties is typically quantified by using a hydrogen embrittlement index (HEI). When using the relative reduction of area (RRA), a clear discrepancy was observed between the results obtained for ex- and in-situ testing. For the former, alloys B and C showed a clear improvement in behaviour, whereas no improvement was observed for the latter. More appropriate HEI's were defined directly related to the impact of the charging method on the fracture mechanism, indicating a higher HE resistance for alloys B and C in both cases. For ex-situ testing, the improved behaviour is linked to a preserved fracture pattern called radial cracking, also observed in air reference testing for all materials, yet only present in H conditions for alloys B and C. For in-situ testing, by combining SSRT and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS), it was demonstrated that additional hydrogen trapping occurs in alloys B and C during tensile testing, as compared to charging without mechanical loading, explaining their improved behaviour.
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