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PUBLICATIONS

Assessing girth weld quality of pipeline steels and their susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement

Published

Author(s)

Zack Buck, Newell Moser, May Ling Martin, Nicholas Derimow, Damian Lauria, Enrico Lucon, Douglas Stalheim, Peter Bradley, Matthew Connolly

Abstract

Hydrogen is known to cause premature failure in various steel infrastructures due to effects of embrittlement, which is particularly detrimental to ferritic steel structures such as pipelines and pressure vessels. Therefore, understanding the susceptibility of these steels to hydrogen embrittlement and the effect of various microstructures found in welds and heat-affected zones (HAZs) is critical for material selection. Here, we report results of mechanical measurements performed in air and in hydrogen of girth welds used in pipeline steels. Fracture toughness was found to be significantly reduced in base, weld and HAZ when measured in gaseous hydrogen. Charpy tests reveal a lower upper shelf energy (USE) of welds compared to base metal, despite exhibiting lower average hardness values for the weld regions, which may be caused by complex microstructure resulting from the welding process.
Proceedings Title
The proceedings of the 34th (2024) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference
Conference Dates
June 16-21, 2024
Conference Location
Rhodes, GR
Pub Type
Conferences

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Keywords

Hydrogen embrittlement, welds, fracture toughness, Charpy testing, hardness mapping
Standards, Materials and Infrastructure

Citation

Buck, Z. , Moser, N. , Martin, M. , Derimow, N. , Lauria, D. , Lucon, E. , Stalheim, D. , Bradley, P. and Connolly, M. (2024), Assessing girth weld quality of pipeline steels and their susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement, The proceedings of the 34th (2024) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference, Rhodes, GR, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957786 (Accessed October 9, 2025)

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Created June 16, 2024, Updated August 16, 2024
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