Efect of Hydrogen Gas Environment on Fretting Fatigue
Masanobu KUBOTA, Naoki NOYAMA, Munehiro FUETA, Chu SAKAE and Yoshiyuki KONDO
Abstract:The objective of this study is to clarify the effect of hydrogen gas environment on fretting fatigue strength of the materials, which will be used for the mechanical system for hydrogen utilization. It is important to take fretting fatigue into account for strength design, since many fatigue failure accidents have occurred at joints or contact parts between components. The test materials were austenitic stainless steel SUS 304 and corrosion resisting aluminum alloy A6061. Fretting fatigue tests and also fretting wear tests were done in hydrogen gas, nitrogen gas and air. Fretting fatigue strength in hydrogen gas environment was lower than that in air for both materials. Tangential force coefficient in hydrogen gas was larger than that in air. The appearance of fretting pit and microcrack was quite different among environments. Absorption of hydrogen was detected in contact pad of fretting wear test fretted in hydrogen gas environment. Fretting fatigue life of the stainless steel was decreased due to hydrogen pre-charge. Key Words:Fretting, Fretting fatigue, Hydrogen gas environment, Stainless steel, aluminum alloy