Comparative study of hydrogen embrittlement resistance between additively and conventionally manufactured 304L austenitic stainless steels

Hydrogen embrittlement in 304L austenitic stainless steel fabricated by laser powder-bed-fusion (LPBF) was investigated and compared to conventionally produced 304L samples with two different processing histories; casting plus annealing (CA) and CA plus thermomechanical treatment (CA-TMT). Interestingly, no significant difference in the amount of deformation-induced α′ martensite between the LPBF and CA-TMT samples was observed, suggesting that the solidification substructure in the LPBF sample enhanced the strength without promoting the harmful hydrogen embrittlement effect. These results are discussed in terms of the chemical inhomogeneity, hydrogen-assisted cracking behavior, and hydrogen diffusion and trapping in the present 304L samples.