Hydrogen Embrittlement of Industrial Components: Prediction, Prevention, and Models

Hydrogen embrittlement is a common, dangerous, and poorly understood cause of failure in many metal alloys. In practice, it is observed that different types of damage to industrial components have been tied to the presence and localization of hydrogen in metals. Many efforts have been made at understanding the effects of hydrogen on materials, resulting in an abundance of theoretical models and papers. However, a fully developed and practically-applicable predictive physical model still does not exist industrially for predicting and preventing hydrogen embrittlement. The connection of microstructure-based behaviors of materials and effects on the macroscopic measurable characteristics (stress levels, hardness, strength, and impact toughness) is of the utmost importance to achieve a unified model for hydrogen embrittlement. This paper gives an overview of the application of a model for structural integrity analysis of boiler tubes made of plain carbon steel exposed during operation to a local corrosion pro...