Some people think they can tell if a part broke due to hydrogen embrittlement by looking at it. This is not correct. The timing of the crack is only one of the key factors that needs to be documented if hydrogen embrittlement is suspected. Four more are listed in the sidebar.

While it is possible that hydrogen embrittlement can be associated with immediate fracture on install, it would be surprising if there were no additional factors that facilitated such a rapid hydrogen-assisted damage event. Perhaps a quench crack, or a forming or casting discontinuity, concentrated the stresses beyond the design plan. Suspicion is warranted when reviewing reports that diagnose hydrogen without reporting the timing of the crack event(s).