Hydrogen-induced crack initiation in hydrogen-charged metastable austenitic stainless steels during deformation at 295 K is characterized by performing a combined tensile and hydrogen release experiment and scanning probe microscopy. Strain-induced martensite (α′) not only provides a path for rapid hydrogen diffusion in austenite (γ) but also promotes crack initiation. Hydrogen rapidly diffuses from α′ and accumulates at the boundary between the α′-rich and γ-rich zones during deformation due to the high hydrogen diffusivity and low hydrogen solubility in α′, resulting in crack initiation at the boundary between the α′-rich and γ-rich zones. The hydrogen-induced crack initially grows along the boundary between the α′-rich and γ-rich zones and then propagates in the α′-rich zone.
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Zhang et al. (2010) studied this question.