Nowadays, an increasing number of oil and gas transmission pipes are constructed with high-strength low alloy steels (HSLA); however, many of these pipelines suffer from different types of hydrogen damages, such as hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC). So many research efforts are being carried out to reduce the detrimental effects of hydrogen damage in HSLA steel pipes. The thermomechanical control process (TMCP) is a microstructural control technique that is able to eliminate the conventional heat treatment after hot rolling. Recent research demonstrated that TMCP provides high HIC resistance without adding high amounts of alloying elements or expensive heat treatments. However, once these HSLA steel pipes are put into service, they experience HIC damage, and the prediction of its kinetics is a necessary condition to perform Fitness-For-Service assessments. To develop a reliable predictive model for the kinetics of HIC, the relations among the microstructural features, environmental parameters, and mechanical properties have to be fully understood. This paper presents a review of the key metallurgical and processing factors to develop HSLA steel pipes, as well as a review of the phenomenological and empirical models of HIC kinetics in order to identify specific research directions for further investigations aimed to establish a reliable and sound model of HIC kinetics.

This study consists of the experimental and numerical analysis of the phase transformations of 5Cr-0.5Mo.0.1C steel after heat treatment. The microstructure of the as-received steel comprised ferrite and bainite, which is in agreement with the microconstituents predicted by the Calphad-calculated TTT diagram. Calphad-based precipitation calculations show that the cooling stage of normalizing treatment did not cause carbide formation. In contrast, tempering at 700 °C for 15 min promotes the intergranular precipitation of Fe₃C, M₇C₃ and M₂₃C₆ carbides, which is consistent with experimental results. Aging at 600 °C for short periods caused the precipitation of both M₇C₃ and M₂₃C₆ carbides; however, M₂₃C₆ is the dominant phase after prolonged aging. This is in agreement with experimental results. A rapid decrease in the steel hardness was observed after short aging, which is attributable to bainite transformation. Further reduction in hardness is associated with the diffusion-controlled coarsening of M₂₃C₆ carbide.