Investigation of Certain Mechanical and Magnetic Properties of a Stressed Low-carbon steel after corrosion in NaCl-water solution

Atomic hydrogen produced by corrosion of a low-carbon steel in NaCl – Water solution may markedly affect its certain tensile mechanical and magnetic properties in a complex and peculiar manner. This influence was investigated by employing the intrinsic micromagnetic emission (ME)-response as well as tensile mechanical response of this ferromagnetic material, and also by introduction a relevant measurement parameter of specific micromagnetic emission response. In this fashion, it was shown that an increase in the hydrogen accumulation with corrosion time leads to an associated increase in the pervasive and embrittling influence expressed by a marked loss in ductility of the material. It was also shown that the competitive interplay of cumulative hydrogen, applied stress and plastic strain-induced microstructural damage was related to a specific ME-response parameter by which an increased magnetic hardening tendency of material with corrosion time was established. In general, embrittlement and magnetic hardening are parallel products of stress- assisted hydrogen accumulation, where magnetic hardening process seems to be in a time processing advance of embrittlement one. The above findings allow to estimate that the magnetic properties are more susceptible to hydrogen effects than the mechanical ones.