Samara University (Samara, Russia)

S. V. Voronin, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Dept. of Metal Technology and Aviation Materials Science, voronin.sv@ssau.ru
A. A. Fedotov, Research Assistant, Industry Research Laboratory of Aviation Materials Science, andrew.f.box@mail.ru
B. V. Kirpichenko, Master of Science in Physics
V. P. Golovin, Master of Science in Metallurgy

In this work, the influence of microstructural parameters of 09G2S steel on resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking (hydrogen resistance) was investigated. Samples were cut from a tee of an oil and gas pipeline with a diameter of 159 mm and a wall thickness of 6 mm. The microstructural parameters were altered by heat treatment of the samples at a temperature of 900 °C with holding times ranging from 1 to 5 hours. An analysis was performed of the effect of structural parameters (grain size, crystallographic orientation of grains, the amount and arrangement of pearlite, ferrite-pearlite banding, and non-metallic inclusions) on resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking. Hydrogen resistance was evaluated in accordance with the NACE TM0284 standard. It was found that with increasing annealing time, the fraction of grains with a predominant crystallographic orientation decreases, and a structure with equal numbers of grains with [100], [110] and [111] crystallographic orientations is formed. Also, the degree of pearlite banding decreases, up to complete disappearance after four hours of annealing. It was established that for annealing times longer than one hour, the resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking in the steel significantly increases. It was experimentally shown that the change in the microstructure of 09G2S steel caused by heat treatment contributes to an increase in resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking.

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