Hydrogen environment embrittlement (HEE) of type 316 series austenitic stainless steels was investigated in the temperature range from 300 to 80 K. Hydrogen showed a marked effect on the tensile properties of type 316, 316L and 316LN stainless steels. HEE increased with decreasing temperature, reached a maximum at around 200 K and decreased rapidly with decreasing temperature down to 80 K. Sensitization enhanced HEE and decreased a temperature immune to HEE. It was suggested that HEE of the type 316 series stainless steels from 300 K to the maximum HEE temperature depended on the transformation of strain-induced martensite and the behavior below the maximum HEE temperature depended on the diffusion of hydrogen.
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Fukuyama et al. (2003) studied this question.