The effect of internal hydrogen on surface slip localisation on polycrystalline AISI 316L stainless steel

A statistical analysis of the effect of internal hydrogen on the surface slip morphology of relatively high nickel content AISI 316L type austenitic stainless steel was carried out on high resolution data obtained by atomic force microscopy. Surface plastic strain localisation was studied for different hydrogen contents, two grain sizes, and two plastic strain levels. The height and spacing of approximately 8000 slip bands, observed on 12 specimens, are shown to follow log-normal distributions. Hydrogen increased the mean slip-band height and the mean slip-band spacing for the two macroscopic plastic strain levels considered, and for the two hydrogen concentrations in coarse-grained specimens. The hydrogen effect was also observed for fine-grained specimens, but only for the highest hydrogen concentration. In addition, the emerging dislocation velocity increased by a factor 3 for high hydrogen content.