Hydrogen solubility, diffusivity and trapping in a tempered Fe–C–Cr martensitic steel under various mechanical stress states

Electrochemical permeation test under stress conditions was carried out to determine the consequences of lattice distortion and defects on hydrogen solubility, diffusivity and trapping in a quenched and tempered martensitic steel. We focused our attention within the “engineering” elastic domain which can be divided into three domains: elasticity, micro-plasticity and generalized plasticity. The local elastic distortion associated with hydrogen atoms in lattice sites and residual vacancies seems to affect hydrogen lattice concentration. The hydrogen trapped in elastic fields shows a complex behaviour as a function of stress related to a possible internal relaxation of stresses around precipitates with the occurrence of plasticity. The plastic deformation caused a substantial increase of irreversible trapping sites in relation with the dislocation multiplication. Apparent diffusion coefficient decreased in this deformation domain in agreement with classical trapping models.