Inhibition of the recombination of electrochemically formed hydrogen promotes the hydrogen entry into the steel. It was found that the recombination of atomic hydrogen at the hydrogen effusion side can be inhibited likewise hindering the hydrogen from effusion. Under steady state permeation conditions this increases the average hydrogen concentration in the steel and, hence, the danger of hydrogen induced material failures. The effusion experiments were performed with hollow tensile probes under constant load simulating pipeline conditions.
Keywords: hydrogen permeation, hydrogen effusion, hydrogen in steel, embrittlement, inhibitor, promotor, pipeline, tensile stress