The oil and gas industry has the last few years experienced several major failures in subsea
components made of Duplex stainless steel due to Hydrogen Induced Stress Cracking (HISC) with
hydrogen introduced from the cathodic protection system. The main objective of the work presented
in this paper has been to gain a better understanding of the HISC fracture mechanism. A test
method allowing examination of the deformation behaviour in the individual phases during stepwise
loading has been developed, and further the deformation in the individual phases have been
documented.
Both as delivered and hydrogen pre-charged samples revealed that the plastic deformation starts in
the austenitic phase (?) while the plastic deformation along slip lines in the ferrite appears to be
initiated from dislocation pile ups at the austenite/ferrite phase boundaries. For specimens charged
with Hydrogen, HISC took place in the ferrite, most likely initiated as a result of dislocation pile ups
in adjacent austenite phases.