Hydrogen trapping in martensitic steel investigated using electrochemical permeation and thermal desorption spectroscopy

Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is caused by a hydrogen surface adsorption followed by absorption and the hydrogen diffusion/trapping phenomenon. Hydrogen entry in metal needs accurate measurements to improve HE models. In this context, hydrogen trapping energy and irreversibly trapped hydrogen concentration are determined on a quenched and tempered martensitic steel using an electrochemical permeation technique and thermal desorption spectroscopy. A comparison between both techniques is carried out: a good accordance of experimental results was obtained considering trapped hydrogen concentration and trapping energy values.