Improved accuracy of thermal desorption spectroscopy by specimen cooling during measurement of hydrogen concentration in a high-strength steel

Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) is a powerful method for the measurement of hydrogen concentration in metallic materials. However, hydrogen loss from metallic samples during the preparation of the measurement poses a challenge to the accuracy of the results, especially in materials with high diffusivity of hydrogen, like ferritic and ferritic-martensitic steels. In the present paper, the effect of specimen cooling during the experimental procedure, as a tentative to reduce the loss of hydrogen during air-lock vacuum pumping for one high-strength steel of 1400 MPa, is evaluated. The results show, at room temperature, the presence of a continuous outward hydrogen flux accompanied with the redistribution of hydrogen within the measured steel during its exposure to the air-lock vacuum chamber under continuous pumping. Cooling of the steel samples to 213 K during pumping in the air-lock vacuum chamber before TDS measurement results in an increase in the measured total hydrogen concentration at about 14%. A significant reduction in hydrogen loss and redistribution within the steel sample improves the accuracy of hydrogen concentration measurement and trapping analysis in ferritic and martensitic steels.