Steel pipelines used for oil and gas transportation remain the backbone of energy infrastructure. Hence, there is heavy focus on their integrity and resistance to degradation in corrosive conditions. Sour corrosion, a dangerous form of pipeline steel degradation when exposed to H2S, typically found in crude oil and natural gas, causes continuous hydrogen uptake into the steel, resulting in hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) and failure. It was of significant interest for us to identify the origin of HIC as it helps in designing new steels resistant to hydrogen attack.
Clean steels help reveal unique mechanisms of hydrogen induced cracking
