The heterogeneous and homogeneous nanostructured 316LN austenitic stainless steel with tensile strengths of approximately 1.8 and 2.0 GPa were fabricated by 92% heavy cold rolling and high-pressure torsion straining, respectively. The influence of heterogeneous and homogenous nanostructures on the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement was investigated. Thermal desorption spectroscopy of the electrochemical hydrogen-charged specimen showed that both nanostructures exhibited almost the same concentration of diffusible hydrogen. While the tensile properties of the homogenous nanostructure were severely affected by the diffusible hydrogen, it had less impact on the tensile properties of the heterogeneous nanostructure. The difference in the embrittlement behavior between the heterogeneous and homogeneous nanostructures is attributed to the mechanism of crack growth observed by tensile fractography. Hydrogen embrittlement is suppressed in the heterogeneous nanostructure because crack growth is hindered by twin domains. The crack easily initiates in the homogeneous nanostructure and the resistance to crack growth is low.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.