Hydrogen induced cracking in a ferritic-austenitic duplex stainless steel has been investigated using compact tension tests.The stress intensity threshold K_H of the steel rises with increasing austenite content and decreases with increasing current density during hydrogen charging.The hydrogen induced cracking initiates and propagates on {100} planes of the ferrite grains.The austenite grains play a “fibre-toughened” role during obstructing crack propagation.