Determination of diffusible and total hydrogen concentration in coated and uncoated steel using melt and solid extraction techniques: Part I

It is essentially to know the bulk hydrogen concentration in various types of steel because it indicates the amount of hydrogen that can be trapped by the different alloys of steel. This information leads to more knowledge about the interactions of steel alloys with hydrogen containing environment and stability of the steel material during usage. To get this information precise analytical methods are necessary.Although the analytical methods for the determination of hydrogen in steel samples are often discussed, there are no sufficient systematic studies as far as the influence of the sample preparation on the analytical value is concerned.The influence of different sample preparation methods on the hydrogen determination in steel at parts per million levels by melting extracting methods has been investigated in this work. The hydrogen was measured by thermal conductivity and infrared detection. The flat sheet samples were zinc coated and uncoated ferritic types of steel. The zinc coating was removed by chemical (acid etching) and physical (paper scraping) methods. Dichloromethane acetone/ethanol, tetrachloromethane and alkaline steel cleaner (Ridoline C72) have been used for cleaning the surface of uncoated samples. The results of the total hydrogen content obtained by applying the different methods were evaluated.