The susceptibility of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) in GCr15 bearing steel under two types of heat treatments: quenching and tempering (QT) and pre-quenching and austempering (PQA) were investigated. Results showed that PQA-treated specimen have higher mechanical stability of the retained austenite (RA) compared with QT-treated specimen. The experiment of indentation test and hydrogen bubbles suggested that PQA-treated specimen was less susceptible to hydrogen than the QT-treated sample. Subsequently, hydrogen permeation tests revealed significant differences in diffusion coefficient and the number of hydrogen trapping sites between QT and PQA specimens. It was demonstrated that PQA is an appropriate heat treatment to tailor the stability of the RA and enhances the resistance to HE of GCr15 bearing steel.
This paper is part of a thematic issue on Hydrogen in Metallic Alloys
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