Hello Rooster,
That is a much better question
Thank you!
Again, here is the assumption... The hydrogen that you generated is present as H
2 gas, and NOT as H
+ ion (and it many variants such as HCl due to contaminants in the process and water). When the gas is H
2, there is almost no embrittlement.
The way that hydrogen embrittlement occurs is that H
+ ions permeate the metal and two H
+ ions form H
2 gas inside the metal. The gas needs to escape, builds up pressure and separates the metal in layers.
As a general rule of thumb "Steel with a ultimate tensile strength of less than 1000 MPa or hardness of less than 30 HRC are not generally considered susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement."
If your metal meets this criteria, your metal will probably have a longer life.
Great question!
Sincerely,
Eugene