Hydrogen Embrittlement - Identifying Appearance

About the Author/JOE GREENSLADE
Joe Greenslade is President of Greenslade & Company, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, a supplier
of fastener inspection products, inspection software, and ISO 17025 (A2LA) accredited calibra-
tion services. He also provides a variety of consulting services including serving as Expert
Witness in fastener related litigations.
Joe has been in the fastener industry in a variety of capacities since 1970. He has written over
220 fastener technology related articles and has spoken to many fastener industry organizations
throughout the United States. Joe has been awarded 12 U.S. Patents for fastener inspection
devices.
Joe is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the National Fastener Distributors Associa-
tion (NFDA), and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Laboratory
Accreditation (A2LA). He is a former member of the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI). He was a
member of the Fastener Quality Act Task Force representing the fastener industry. Joe also
serves on the Screw Thread Improvement Task Force working with government and industry to
improve aerospace related thread specifications, and thread gaging and calibration procedures.
Here Is What a Hydrogen Embrittlement

Failure Really Looks Like
T he picture of the broken zinc plated socket head
cap screw in this article is a great example of
what a typical hydrogen embrittlement failure looks like.
C36, the greater the chance that the part will experi-
ence a failure attributable to hydrogen embrittlement.
Inch socket head cap screws, L-9 bolts, metric prop-
I thought this is would be a good example to share with erty class 12.9 screws and bolts, and spring steel
readers because the discussion of hydrogen washers and roll pins are the common fasteners which
embrittlement comes up so often, but most people in are most susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement fail-
industry do not know what a real hydrogen ures because of their high hardness.
embrittlement failure looks like. 3. The failed parts must be electro-plated. The cre-
There are several classic in- ation of the hydrogen in the metal fastener is caused
dicators of a real hydrogen by the cleaning processes where acids are used and
embrittlement failure. If any of not by the actual application of the plating. I have heard
these factors are missing, then of many cases where non-electroplated parts were sus-
the failure must be attributable pected of hydrogen em-brittlement, but I am not aware
to something other than hydro- of any that were confirmed to have failed from hydro-
gen embrittlement. These five gen embrittlement.
characteristics are: 4. The appearance must be that of an intergranular
failure. Look closely at the surface of the broken areas
in the photograph in this article. The surface of the
failure looks relatively smooth with a texture that looks
like the surface of emery cloth. If you look at it under
magnification, you see that the surface has a crystal-
line appearance with many sharp faces or facets. Some
describe the appearance as being similar to broken
rock candy.
1. The failure must be a DELAYED failure. The de- A bolt or screw failure caused by excessive torque
lay is generally from one to 24 hours after installation. or tensile stresses produces a failure surface that has
If the failure occurs during installation, it is definitely peaks and valleys in it which is referred to as dim-
NOT caused by hydrogen embrittlement. pling. This is also technically referred to as a ductile
If the delay is a week or later after installation, the failure as opposed to a brittle failure which is charac-
cause is probably stress corrosion and not hydrogen teristic of a hydrogen embrittlement failure. If you look
embrittlement. The failure modes and metallurgical at the failure surface of a bolt or screw failure surface
appearances are identical in stress corrosion failures that has peaks and valleys and/or a swirling appear-
and hydrogen embrittlement failures. The primary indi- ance. The failure is highly unlikely to be attributable to
cation of stress corrosion is that the delay is longer hydrogen embrittlement.
than 24 to 48 hours after installation. More details on 5. The failure location is either where the fasteners
stress corrosion will be dealt with in a later article. head connects to the body or in the threads within two
2. The fasteners must be hardened to at least thread pitches above where the bolts thread engages
Rockwell C37. Unhardened fasteners never suffer from the mating thread.
hydrogen embrittlement. Fasteners that have a hard- In the case of head to shank failures, it frequently
ness of Rockwell C36 or less are extremely unlikely to looks like someone used an ice cream scooper to scoop
ever suffer from hydrogen embrittlement. the shank out of the underside of the heads, as is the
The greater the fasteners hardness above Rockwell case in the pictured part.
If the hydrogen location is somewhere other than drogen embrittlement failure is to avoid the factors that
one of these two locations, then hydrogen embrittle- make hydrogen embrittlement failures possible by do-
ment is probably not the culprit. Hydrogen embrittlement ing the following:
1. Do not electro-plate inch socket head cap screws,
L-9 bolts, or metric property class 12.9 bolts or screws.
2. If customers insist on using electro-plated bolts
and screws, suggest they consider using a Grade 8 or
property class 10.9 part of a slightly larger diameter
First thread instead of using the socket head cap screw or prop-
above erty class 12.9 part.
engagement Head 3. If the customer insists on using an electro-plated
to socket head cap screw or property class 12.9 part,
Shank specify that the parts must be baked at 375-400 de-
grees F within one hour after plating for at least four
hours at temperature.
Also, conduct one of the recognized hydrogen
failure always occurs where the stress concentrations embrittlement tests on every lot of parts to provide
are the greatest. If the bolt is absolutely straight when you the opportunity to catch hydrogen embrittlement
tightened, the failures will generally be where the fas- before it is exhibited in the users application.
tener head joins the body. If there is any lack of 4. If you must electro-plate any type of tapping screw,
straightness or bending action in the application, the specify to the heat treater that the core hardness of
failure will most likely fail in the thread just above the the screws must not exceed Rockwell C36.
thread engagement. If you will adhere to the preceding suggestions, you
When investigating reported fastener failures, keep will greatly improve your odds of never having to refer
in mind that for the failure to be attributable to hydro- to this article to see if your customers failure looks
gen embrittlement, ALL FIVE of the characteristics like the picture in this article.
listed above must be present. If any one of the above For more information on the subject or any other
are not associated with the failure, it is extremely un- fastener quality assurance, gaging, or calibration mat-
likely that hydrogen embrittlement is the culprit. ter, contact the author at 800-435-2647 by phone or by
The best insurance against ever experiencing a hy- email at [email protected].
Reprinted from Distributors Link Magazine, Spring 2005

Hydrogen Embrittlement - Identifying Appearance

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Hydrogen Embrittlement - Identifying Appearance

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Hydrogen Embrittlement - Identifying Appearance

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

About the Author/JOE GREENSLADE

Here Is What a Hydrogen Embrittlement

Reprinted from Distributors Link Magazine, Spring 2005

You might also like