Effects of Hydrogen Gas Environment on Fatigue Strength at 107 cycles in Plain Specimen of Type 316L Stainless Steel

Abstract

In order to clarify the hydrogen effect on the fatigue strength at 107 cycles in a plain specimen of type 316L austenitic stainless steel, rotating bending fatigue tests in laboratory air and plane bending fatigue tests in 1.0 MPa dry hydrogen gas and in air at 313 K were carried out. The main results obtained are as follows. The observed fatigue behavior showed that the fatigue strength at 107 cycles in both environments is determined by the non-propagation of a fatigue crack of the order of the grain size. Also, the strength at 107 cycles in hydrogen gas is slightly higher than that in air. In the region of high-cycle fatigue, the fatigue life in hydrogen gas is longer than that in air, which is mainly caused by the longer crack initiation life in hydrogen gas. The crack propagation life in hydrogen gas is shorter than that in air but has only a small ratio to the fatigue life in this region.