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About the Nature of Quasi-Cleavage in Low-Carbon Steel Embrittled with Hydrogen

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Scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy are used to study a fracture surface of hydrogen-charged low-carbon steel, which has been deformed in air at room temperature to 12% residual strain and then crushed in liquid nitrogen. It is shown that the quasi-cleavage facets formed during the room-temperature deformation have a strongly curved surface in contrast to the flat cleavage facets formed under the loading in liquid nitrogen. It is inferred that the quasi-cleavage facets in the hydrogen-charged steel do not form by the mechanism of cleavage in the deformed structure.

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The work has been performed with financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant 17-08-01033).

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Correspondence to E. D. Merson.

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Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 3, pp. 53 – 57, March, 2019.

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Merson, E.D., Poluyanov, V.A., Merson, D.L. et al. About the Nature of Quasi-Cleavage in Low-Carbon Steel Embrittled with Hydrogen. Met Sci Heat Treat 61, 191–195 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11041-019-00399-x

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