This paper describes data on the test performance of special clean C-Mn pressure vessel steels in two different wet H2S test environments. Specifically, there has been much published data and testing in the unstressed HIC test (TM0284) and the necessity for special clean steel is well understood. Recent attention has been placed on the performance of clean steels using the NACE tensile test (TM0177 Method A). It is postulated by some investigators that possible susceptibility to
stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking (SOHIC), for which there has been little published data and for which the important production characteristics are not well defined, may not be as well understood. The current study supports the hypothesis that HIC and SOHIC are not dependent on one another but may have similar performance-based steel characteristics.
Keywords: carbon steel, hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking (SOHIC), sour service, microstructural banding, clean steel, sulfide stress cracking (SSC),
calcium-sulfur ratio, H2S