Simulation of hydrogen induced cold cracking using electrolytic precharging procedure

A simple electrolytic cell can be used to charge hydrogen into steel sample s. The present paper investigates the validity of this procedure for simula ting hydrogen induced cold cracking in steel weld metal, as compared with w eld metal containing hydrogen originating from the welding process. The sim ulation procedure has been investigated since a potential advantage is its ability to provide improved understanding of the quantitative relationships between hydrogen, microstructure, arid cracking susceptibility when applie d to mechanical test specimens. The intention of the present study was to v erify that the distribution of hydrogen was uniform in test samples. Variou s experiments were therefore carried out which showed how, with care, the h ydrogen concentration could be controlled to simulate that expected during welding. This hots been further verified using a simple model of diffusion. In addition, it has been shown that the procedure can simulate the same mi crostructural mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation that are obser ved in welds containing hydrogen originating from the welding process.