Effect of cyclic plastic deformation on hydrogen diffusion behavior and embrittlement susceptibility of reeling-pipeline steel weldments

The hydrogen embrittlement (HE) susceptibility and hydrogen permeation behavior of reeling-pipeline welded joint with/without cyclic plastic deformation (CPD) were studied using the electrochemical hydrogen charging technique. Results indicated that the surface of welded joint emerged hydrogen-induced damage containing cracks and blisters. The degree of hydrogen-induced damage increased with the increase of hydrogen charging time and current density. When the hydrogen charging current density and time was 50 mA/cm² and 4 h, respectively, the area ratio of hydrogen-induced damage of overall welded joint with CPD process was reduced from 6.61% to 2.28%, and the damage ratio of different sub-zones in welded joint was also decreased. The oxidized inclusions enriching Al–Mg–Ca elements acted as the initiation sites for hydrogen-induced damages. The effective diffusion coefficient of as-welded joint was 2.63 × 10⁻⁶ cm²/s, while that of welded joint with CPD showed a smaller value of 1.36 × 10⁻⁶ cm²/s. The welded joint with CPD process presented better resistance to HE, which was attributed to the increased density of hydrogen traps and the formation of dislocation cells to disperse hydrogen uniformly and reduce the possibility of local accumulation and recombination of diffusible hydrogen. Sub-zones in welded joint without CPD process were considerably more sensitive to hydrogen-induced damage, which indicated the important role of microstructure and dislocation density in HE mechanisms. The order of HE susceptibility from low to high was weld metal, base metal and heat affected zone.