This article begins with a discussion on the classification of hydrogen embrittlement and likely sources of hydrogen and stress. The article describes several hydrogen embrittlement test methods, including cantilever beam tests, wedge-opening load tests, contoured double-cantilever beam tests, rising step-load tests, and slow strain rate tensile tests. It also describes the interpretation of test results and how to control hydrogen embrittlement during production.

Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) is a cracking phenomenon that occurs in susceptible alloys, and is caused by the conjoint action of tensile stress and the presence of a specific corrosive environment. This article provides an overview of the anodic dissolution mechanisms and cathodic mechanisms for SCC. It discusses the materials, environmental, and mechanical factors that control hydrogen embrittlement and SCC behavior of different engineering materials with emphasis on carbon and low-alloy steels, high-strength steels, stainless steels, nickel-base alloys, aluminum alloys, and titanium alloys.

Hydrogen damage is a term used to designate a number of processes in metals by which the load-carrying capacity of the metal is reduced due to the presence of hydrogen. This article introduces the general forms of hydrogen damage and provides an overview of the different types of hydrogen damage in all the major commercial alloy systems. It covers the broader topic of hydrogen damage, which can be quite complex and technical in nature. The article focuses on failure analysis where hydrogen embrittlement of a steel component is suspected. It provides practical advice for the failure analysis practitioner or for someone who is contemplating procurement of a cost-effective failure analysis of commodity-grade components suspected of hydrogen embrittlement. Some prevention strategies for design and manufacturing problem-induced hydrogen embrittlement are also provided.

This article provides an overview of the classification of hydrogen damage. Some specific types of the damage are hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen-induced blistering, cracking from precipitation of internal hydrogen, hydrogen attack, and cracking from hydride formation. The article focuses on the types of hydrogen embrittlement that occur in all the major commercial metal and alloy systems, including stainless steels, nickel-base alloys, aluminum and aluminum alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, copper and copper alloys, and transition and refractory metals. The specific types of hydrogen embrittlement discussed include internal reversible hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen environment embrittlement, and hydrogen reaction embrittlement. The article describes preservice and early-service fractures of commodity-grade steel components suspected of hydrogen embrittlement. Some prevention strategies for design and manufacturing problem-induced hydrogen embrittlement are also reviewed.

Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) occurs under service conditions, which can result, often without any prior warning, in catastrophic failure. Hydrogen embrittlement is distinguished from stress-corrosion cracking generally by the interactions of the specimens with applied currents. To determine the susceptibility of alloys to SCC and hydrogen embrittlement, several types of testing are available. This article describes the constant extension testing, constant load testing, constant strain-rate testing for smooth specimens and precracked or notched specimens of SCC. It provides information on the cantilever beam test, wedge-opening load test, contoured double-cantilever beam test, three-point and four-point bend tests, rising step-load test, disk-pressure test, slow strain-rate tensile test, and potentiostatic slow strain-rate tensile test for hydrogen embrittlement.

This article examines the embrittlement of iron and carbon steels. It describes compositional, processing, and service conditions that contribute to the problem and presents examples of how embrittlement influences mechanical properties. Embrittlement due to hydrogen is the most common form of embrittlement and influences the behavior and properties of nearly all ferrous alloys and many metals. The article explains why hydrogen embrittlement is so widespread and reviews the many types of damage it can cause. It also explores other forms of embrittlement, including metal-induced embrittlement, strain-age and aluminum nitride embrittlement, thermal embrittlement, quench cracking, 475 deg C and sigma phase embrittlement (in FeCr alloys), temper embrittlement, and embrittlement caused by neutron irradiation. In addition, the article covers stress-corrosion cracking along with properties and conditions that affect it, and the procedures to detect and evaluate it.

This article presents the primary considerations and mechanisms for corrosion and explains how they are involved in the selection of materials for process equipment in refineries and petrochemical plants. It discusses the material selection criteria for a number of ferrous and nonferrous alloys used in petroleum refining and petrochemical applications. The article reviews the mechanical properties, fabricability, and corrosion resistance of refinery steels. It describes low- and high-temperature corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, and cracking such as stress-corrosion, sulfide stress, and stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking. The article considers hydrogen attack, corrosion fatigue, and liquid metal embrittlement and the methods of combating them. It explains the causes of velocity-accelerated corrosion and erosion-corrosion. The article summarizes some corrective measures that can be implemented to control corrosion. The applicable standards for materials used in corrosive service conditions in upstream and downstream petroleum service are presented in a tabular form.

This article discusses different types of mechanical fasteners, including threaded fasteners, rivets, blind fasteners, pin fasteners, special-purpose fasteners, and fasteners used with composite materials. It describes the origins and causes of fastener failures and with illustrative examples. Fatigue fracture in threaded fasteners and fretting in bolted machine parts are also discussed. The article provides a description of the different types of corrosion, such as atmospheric corrosion and liquid-immersion corrosion, in threaded fasteners. It also provides information on stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, and liquid-metal embrittlement of bolts and nuts. The article explains the most commonly used protective metal coatings for ferrous metal fasteners. Zinc, cadmium, and aluminum are commonly used for such coatings. The article also illustrates the performance of the fasteners at elevated temperatures and concludes with a discussion on fastener failures in composites.

Metal-induced embrittlement is a phenomenon in which the ductility or the fracture stress of a solid metal is reduced by surface contact with another metal in either the liquid or solid form. This article summarizes some of the characteristics of liquid-metal- and solid-metal-induced embrittlement. This phenomenon shares many of these characteristics with other modes of environmentally induced cracking, such as hydrogen embrittlement and stress-corrosion cracking. The discussion covers the occurrence, failure analysis, and service failures of the embrittlement. The article also briefly reviews some commercial alloy systems in which liquid-metal-induced embrittlement or solid-metal-induced embrittlement has been documented and describes some examples of cracking due to these phenomena, either in manufacturing or in service.

This article focuses on the analysis of materials and mechanical- (or biomechanical-) based medical device failures. It reviews the failure analysis practices, including evidence receipt, cleaning, nondestructive examination, destructive examination, exemplars analysis, and device redesign. The article examines the common failure modes, such as overload, fatigue, corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, and fretting, of medical devices. The failure analysis of orthopedic implants, such as permanent prostheses and internal fixation devices, is described. The article reviews the failure mechanisms in some of the more common medical device materials, namely, stainless steels, titanium alloys, cobalt-base alloys, and nitinol. It presents case histories with examples for failure analysis.

This article illustrates the three techniques for producing glassy metals, namely, liquid phase quenching, atomic or molecular deposition, and external action technique. Devitrification of an amorphous alloy can proceed by several routes, including primary crystallization, eutectoid crystallization, and polymorphous crystallization. The article demonstrates a free-energy versus composition diagram that summarizes many of the devitrification routes. It provides a historical review of the corrosion behavior of fully amorphous and partially devitrified metallic glasses. The article describes the general corrosion behavior and localized corrosion behavior of transition metal-metal binary alloys, transition metal-metalloid alloys, and amorphous simple metal-transition metal-rare earth metal alloys. It concludes with a discussion on the environmentally induced fracture of glassy alloys, including hydrogen embrittlement and stress-corrosion cracking.

This article reviews the corrosion behavior of intermetallics for the modeling of the corrosion processes and for devising a strategy to create corrosion protective systems through alloy and coating design. Thermodynamic principles in the context of high-temperature corrosion and information on oxidation; sulfidation; hot corrosion of NiAl-, FeAl-, and TiAl-based intermetallics; and silicides are included. The article explores the thermodynamic consideration, ordering influencing kinetics, stress-cracking corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement of aqueous corrosion. It also explains the practical issues dealing with the corrosion problems.

Tantalum is one of the most versatile corrosion-resistant metals known. The outstanding corrosion resistance and inertness of tantalum are attributed to a very thin, impervious, protective oxide film that forms on exposure of the metal to slightly anodic or oxidizing conditions. This article provides a discussion on the mechanism of corrosion resistance and on the behavior of tantalum in different corrosive environments, namely, acids; salts; organic compounds; reagents, foods, and pharmaceuticals; body fluids and tissues; and gases. It contains several tables that summarize the effects of acids, salts, and miscellaneous corrosive reagents on tantalum and applications for tantalum equipment in chemical, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Finally, the article presents a discussion on hydrogen embrittlement, the galvanic effects, and cathodic protection of tantalum and describes the corrosion resistance of different types of tantalum-base alloys.

This article discusses the basic approach for predicting the corrosion-fatigue life of structural components. It describes two types of tests that are normally used in combination: cycles-to-failure tests, which focus on crack initiation, and crack propagation tests, which focus on crack growth rates under cyclic load. The article examines corrosion-fatigue cracking along with the effects of cracking due to stress corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement, which often occur together. It explains how test parameters such as loading and environmental conditions impact crack growth mechanisms and data interpretation.