Evaluation of the Effect of TiC Precipitates on the Hydrogen Trapping Capacity of Fe-C-Ti Alloys

The present work evaluates the hydrogen trapping behavior of different laboratory cast generic Fe-C-Ti martensitic alloys. Titanium carbides were precipitated in the materials by well-designed heat treatments. A quenched and tempered martensitic matrix with final strength above 1000 MPa was aimed for and verified by means of hardness measurements. Tempering allowed generating precipitates with different characteristics in terms of coherency, size and distribution due to the secondary hardening effect, as was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. The hydrogen trapping capacity of the TiC precipitates was investigated by thermal desorption spectroscopy, while melt extraction was performed to determine the amount of hydrogen present after cathodic hydrogen charging. Generally, it could be concluded that the incoherent particles in the quenched material were not able to trap hydrogen, whereas the quenched and tempered material trapped hydrogen at the interface of small probably coherent TiC.

Origin of the Hydrogen Absorbed by Incoherent TiC Particles in Iron

Hydrogen absorption of incoherent TiC particles that were once reported to be strong hydrogen traps in iron at room temperature was investigated by means of thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS). The results indicated that incoherent TiC particles in iron do not trap hydrogen at all at room temperature even they are cathodically charged for a long time. Only at high temperatures and in atmosphere containing hydrogen source, incoherent TiC particles can trap hydrogen. The origin of hydrogen trapped by incoherent TiC particles was justified to be water vapor in the atmosphere during heat treatment.

Collaborative Study of the Determination of Dithiocarbamate Residues by a Modified Carbon Disulfide Evolution Method

A modified method for determination of dithiocarbamate residue recoveries from grain was studied collaboratively. In this method dilute acid with stannous chloride is added to the crop, which is then heated to boiling for the dithiocarbamate decomposition step. A mixture of NaOH solution and benzene is used to trap hydrogen sulfide and other volatile interferences. Collaborative results were low and erratic, with large coefficients of variation. The results of the Associate Referee, on the other hand, were better. Further study on this method is recommended.