Environment-Assisted Cracking

A special issue of Corrosion and Materials Degradation (ISSN 2624-5558).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2093

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24044 Dalmine, Italy
Interests: corrosion and protection of metals; electrochemistry of corrosion; environment-assisted cracking; hydrogen embrittlement; biomaterials; failure analysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to the environment-assisted cracking (EAC). In EAC, the phenomenon that takes place occurs due to the synergistic action of the environment on a susceptible material under tensile loading. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC), hydrogen embrittlement (HE), and corrosion fatigue (CF) are the most known aspects of EAC. EAC phenomena cause the formation of cracks that propagate due to the combined action of stress and environment, with a risk of  structural components rupturing even at loads much lower than the tensile strength. Many alloys can present stress corrosion phenomena in a specific environment, involving complex mechanisms created by the synergic action of the specific environment and mechanical stress. Many studies have been conducted on these issues over the past few years, without reach definitive knowledge of all the possible forms. In addition, new production technologies, like additive manufacturing, require the qualification of new produced materials for the uses for which they are intended.

The aim of this Special Issue on EAC is to expand the knowledge on stress corrosion cracking of materials and all its aspects, from modelling and mechanisms to the qualification of new materials.

Full papers, communications, and reviews are welcome for submission.

Prof. Dr. Marina Cabrini
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • environment-assisted cracking
  • stress corrosion cracking
  • hydrogen embrittlement
  • hydrogen diffusion
  • corrosion fatigue

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

29 pages, 71157 KB  
Article
Hydrogen-Induced Effects on Tensile Properties and Impact Toughness in Additively Manufactured vs. Wrought Austenitic Stainless Steels
by Bohdan Efremenko, Yuliia Chabak, Ladislav Falat, Vasily Efremenko, Andriy Syrotyuk, Ivan Petrišinec, František Kromka and Volodymyr Kulyk
Corros. Mater. Degrad. 2026, 7(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/cmd7010014 - 24 Feb 2026
Viewed by 1388
Abstract
The growing demand for hydrogen-based energy systems has intensified the need for structural materials with enhanced resistance to hydrogen-induced degradation. This study presents a comparative investigation of hydrogen-induced mechanical behavior and embrittlement susceptibility of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) manufactured 316L steel and [...] Read more.
The growing demand for hydrogen-based energy systems has intensified the need for structural materials with enhanced resistance to hydrogen-induced degradation. This study presents a comparative investigation of hydrogen-induced mechanical behavior and embrittlement susceptibility of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) manufactured 316L steel and conventionally manufactured (CM) 316H steel. Tensile/Charpy testing, hydrogen charging (up to 115 h), OM, SEM, TEM, and EBSD analysis were employed to assess microstructure, strength, ductility, fracture characteristics, and phase stability. In the uncharged state, LPBF steel exhibited significantly higher strength but lower ductility than CM steel, attributed to its fine cellular sub-grain microstructure. Both steels showed similar hydrogen saturation kinetics, reaching ~9 ppm, with residual hydrogen levels of ~3.3 ppm after 90 days of desorption. Hydrogen exposure led to a more pronounced degradation of the tensile properties of the LPBF steel, with an up to 22% reduction in the ductility-based embrittlement index, while CM steel remained much less affected. Impact toughness in both materials resisted hydrogen embrittlement, retaining over 96% of initial values. Fractographic analysis of tensile specimens revealed subsurface brittle zones consistent with calculated hydrogen diffusion depths. EBSD data indicated that hydrogen-stabilized austenite in LPBF steel was achieved by suppressing deformation-induced martensitic transformation, despite increased dislocation activity. These findings suggest that, while LPBF steel is more vulnerable to hydrogen embrittlement under tensile loading via the HELP mechanism, its microstructure mitigates impact toughness degradation through hydrogen-induced austenite stabilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environment-Assisted Cracking)
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