The Role of Retained Austenite Against Hydrogen Embrittlement and White Etching Area Formation in Bearing Steel under Dynamic Loading

White etching areas (WEAs) are premature failure witnessed in wind turbine gearbox bearings, due to which it fails within 10 % of design life causing huge economic losses. Among all the drivers for WEAs formation, hydrogen is known to increase the plasticity of the region by reducing the critical stress for dislocation to flow, thereby accelerating the degradation. Retained austenite is found to have good intraphase trapping sites which reduces the mobility of hydrogen. In this research work, the role of retained austenite in influencing hydrogen diffusivity and WEAs formation is evaluated against dynamic loading. The outcome of the study showed that stabilizing microstructure with retained austenite was beneficial in mitigating WEAs formation in bearing steel under a high hydrogen environment.